New royal yacht plan sinks

Minister says public money unlikely to be available even to look at such a scheme

The idea of a new royal yacht to replace the long-decommissioned Britannia all but sank during a parliamentary debate last month.

Some Tory MPS are campaigning for a new royal yacht to travel the globe “as a brand new symbol of our newly reasserted national sovereignty” following the Brexit vote in June.

Britannia was decommissioned in 1997 and is now Scotland’s most visited tourist attraction.

But interest is not strong in a new venture, even at the Royal Yachting Association, which held a meeting on board the old one at the invitation of the Duke of Edinburgh.

For the government, international trade minister Mark Garnier said that there were no plans to commission a new royal yacht but he would welcome a costed business proposal. He said it was “very unlikely” taxpayers’ money would be spent investigating the scheme and private financing would have to be sought.

There are hard facts in the way of a new yacht including the likely £120 million cost and the need to fund its operation and maintenance.

Recommissioning the 63-year-old yacht is considered prohibitively expensive while building a new yacht would be hard to justify. The original Britannia undertook 968 official visits including the handover of Hong Kong.

takes place december 3-11 at Porte de Versailles. the london Boat show kicks off at excel in docklands from january 6-15. open 10am-6pm with late opening until 8pm on thursday january 12. British Marine’s 18th Meet the Buyer event will also run on january 10-11 as part of the London Boat Show, allowing international buyers to network with UK suppliers of marine products. the royal Yachting Association’s 2017 suzuki Dinghy show takes place at London’s Alexandra Palace, March 4-5. over 8,500 visitors went along last time. Boot-düsseldorf International Boat Show is on in Germany from january 21-29 at düsseldorf exhibition centre.