Government declares itself ‘very keen’ to see costed plans to bring back a Royal Yacht to replace HMY Britannia
But Department for International Trade ruled out spending any taxpayers’ money on the project
THE GOVERNMENT has declared they are “very keen” to see costed plans to bring back a Royal Yacht for the Queen.
But the Department for International Trade ruled out spending any taxpayers’ money on the project, first revealed by The Sun.
The Queen’s private yacht was decommissioned in 1997, but now senior Tories want to bring it back as a floating Embassy to drum up post-Brexit trade around the world.
More than 100 Tory MPs are backing a new Britannia and MPs debated the plans in a patriotic session in Parliament this afternoon.
Campaigning Tory MP Jake Berry who is leading the calls said the new boat would be a "small piece of Britain that can move between international port and international port".
Responding to the backbench debate, Trade Minister Mark Garnier said if a costed plan is drawn up to privately funded Royal Yacht: "we would all be very keen to see it".
But a government source added that the new yacht "is just so far down the agenda" and "at this time" there is no prospect of taxpayer cash toward it.
Mr Garnier told MPs that they estimate the cost of new yacht would be around £120million. Dozens of Tory MPs spoke up for the project in a two hour debate in Westminster Hall.
Former Defence Minister Mark Francois called for the running costs of the state vessel to be paid for out of the "rising" international aid budget.