Royal Yacht successor is a trade ship insists No 10 – despite MOD footing bill
The successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia will be paid for out of the defence budget despite being a trade vessel and not a warship.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is being asked to pay for the national flagship even though MPS have previously criticised the "funding black hole" of £17 billion in the department's equipment budget.
Earlier this year, Westminster's Public Accounts Committee warned that defence chiefs faced "tough choices" if they were to balance the books.
Despite the procurement coming from the MOD, No 10 plans to build the ship in the UK at a reported cost of up to £200 million and use it to boost the UK'S post-brexit trading opportunities.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "This new national flagship will boost British trade and drive investment into the economy.
"The procurement process, which is being done through the MOD, will reflect its wideranging use and so it will be funded through the MOD, as set out previously."
Boris Johnson's spokesman stressed that the ship will be for trade rather than military purposes, however.
Recent polling has indicated that a majority of the public are against spending money on a new trade ship.
A Yougov survey in April found that 51 per cent of people questioned were opposed to replacing the Britannia with an updated vessel, with only 25
per cent in favour. Similarly, 57 per cent said spending on a new vessel could not be justified, versus 26 per cent who thought it could be.
The vessel will be used to host trade fairs, ministerial summits and diplomatic talks as the UK seeks to build links and boost exports following Brexit.
It will be the first national flagship since Britannia,
which was decommissioned in 1997, but the new vessel will be a ship rather than a luxury yacht.
Mr Johnson's spokesman, pressed on reports the vessel could be classified as a "warship" and have guns attached, said: "We will set out the exact detail in due course but this is a trade ship, it is not a military vessel."
Asked whether that meant
it would not be a warship, he replied: "That's correct."
The Downing Street official declined to comment on how the MOD could afford to build the multi-million pound yacht, given its own equipment budget deficit.
Ex-defence minister Tobias Ellwood suggested proposals to leave the vessel unarmed could put extra pressure on the Royal Navy.
He said it would be "more efficient" to use a repurposed Type 23 frigate as the successor to the Britannia if the MOD was being asked to pay.
"Any other vessel would require a war ship escort and that's an extra burden our overstretched surface fleet cannot afford," the Commons Defence Committee chairman tweeted.
The Liberal Democrats have called for the flagship to have a "double" defence purpose to justify the expenditure.
Defence spokesman Jamie Stone said: "If we are to have a 'national yacht' then it must double up as a vessel having a very clear defence capability within the Royal Navy.
"Otherwise the cost becomes incredibly hard to justify.”