Navy

Defence Minister: 'No Need' For New Royal Yacht

The government has "no requirement" for a new royal yacht because "times have changed", according to a defence minister.

Earl Howe said there are a number of ways to promote the UK around the world other than a new yacht to replace Britannia, which was taken out of service in 1997.

Lord Howe said any offer of private funding for a new ship would be looked at but still questioned who would pay for it.

A royal yacht would have to fly the White Ensign, meaning it would have to be state-owned and manned by the Royal Navy.

He said he found it difficult to see how public funding for the ship could be justified despite a recent letter to The Telegraph from three former captains of Britannia arguing that its contribution to the economy "vastly outweighed" her running costs. Lord Howe said:

"The government has no requirement for a new royal yacht and therefore is giving no consideration at the current time for the commissioning of one."

He was responding to a question by the former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Forsyth of Drumlean who said the answer was "very disappointing". He said:

"Given that more than 100 backbench Conservative MPs, the present Foreign Secretary and the past Foreign Secretary have all expressed support for a privately funded royal yacht, will he not at least agree to spend the money raised by The Daily Telegraph on having a privately-funded cost-benefit analysis.

"What possible objection could there be for that and the government giving its full support?"

Lord Howe responded: "If private enterprise believes that there is a business case for a new royal yacht we would of course look at that, but we would still be left with the question of who would pay for the vessel.

"Given that no government department has a need for a royal yacht it's hard to see how any public funding could be justified."

The Labour peer Lord Watts said it would be "totally wrong" to consider building a new royal yacht as the "Royal Navy has got no ships and those ships that we have keep on breaking down".

But Lord Howe rejected this, saying they had a fleet of ships "which bear comparison with any in the world for cutting edge technology and we can be proud of that".

In response to questions over whether the failure to commission a new ship sent out a negative message, he said: "I would suggest that times have changed in the last 20 years.”

"There are a whole variety of ways in which we can promote UK business around the world."