The Conversation (0)
Kate Plummer
Jul 29, 2021
Estimates for the cost of the “vanity” Royal Yacht have increased and people are outraged.
The yacht, which was first announced in April to commemorate Prince Philip and will be used for trade and diplomatic missions, was previously reported to cost between £150m and £200m – small change then – but ,speaking at a National Flagship Engagement Day yesterday, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said even more taxpayers’ cash could be required to build the “floating embassy”
“There has been a lot of reporting around this ship. Not all of it accurate,” he said.
“So let me set out our basic aims. Subject to working through bids, competition and technology, I aim to commission the ship for between £200m and £250m on a firm price.”
Gosh.
Wallace added that he wanted the yacht to be “British made” with a “British led design, built by British hands”.
He said construction on the boat begin as early as 2022 to “have a ship in the water by 2024 or 2025”, so that’s something to look forward to.
But not everyone is counting down the days for the boat to launch. The Labour Party, for instance, are not fans.
Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky the prime minister had “lost control of his vanity yacht”.
“It is absolutely staggering that costs have rocketed by £100m in a week,” he said.
“Labour would scrap the government’s latest pet project and invest taxpayers’ money wisely to tackle crime and the surge in antisocial behaviour under this Conservative government.”
Meanwhile people took to social media to slam the project and point out that the sum could be spent on other things:
Another Garden Bridge to Nowhere UK royal yacht (a rear admiral described the plans as resembling an “oligarch’s… https://t.co/Vbv7dZB6RN— Peter Jukes (@Peter Jukes) 1627473390
£250m for a Royal Yacht - pay cut for the NHS. Tory Britain.— Shauny - Póg Mo Thóin🦒 (@Shauny - Póg Mo Thóin🦒) 1627475575
As the UK gov push ahead with their cruel plans to cut UC, we hear that the PM's ridiculous vanity project of build… https://t.co/pQsfxwR7QW— Tommy Sheppard MP (@Tommy Sheppard MP) 1627551309
The cost of this prime ministerial vanity project would cover the annual salary of - literally - 10,000 NHS nurses. https://t.co/IVURa7b2XW— Rachel Clarke (@Rachel Clarke) 1627499653
Let’s give the money to our NHS staff instead https://t.co/hxIKWzwdbS— Peter Stefanovic (@Peter Stefanovic) 1627551956
Scrap the ridiculous and unnecessary Royal Yacht and pay every penny to the RNLI.— Northern Independence Party 🟨🟥 (@Northern Independence Party 🟨🟥) 1627550600
I believe this is what @BorisJohnson meant when he talked about "spaffing money up the wall". https://t.co/MJ9kM0U8El— Angela Rayner (@Angela Rayner) 1627542798
Tory MP Johnny Mercer even spoke out against the government’s plan:
Boris Johnson: Britannia replacement will pay for itself ‘many, many times over’ Erm.. as would funding the Office… https://t.co/07gDB5v86Y— Johnny Mercer (@Johnny Mercer) 1627484497
That the Royal Yacht is pretty unpopular is not news. In May, a YouGov survey found that people disapproved of the plan by 47 per cent to 29 per cent.
Speaking to The Telegraph in June, leading naval architect Stephen Payne also said it was a “very poor” flagship for the UK and would be more suitable for the Isle of Sark, population 500.
“I just think we could do something more ambitious,” he added. “The superstructure front, akin to a 1950s Hull trawler, is great for a fair-weather ship but not such a good idea for a global voyager crossing the Atlantic, Pacific, or even rounding the tip of Africa”.
Numerous government ministers like former Health Secretary Matt Hancock (retro) and Kwasi Kwarteng were rolled out to defend the plans to journalists following this initial backlash but now that the price has been hiked up again the anti-yacht brigade has renewed their anger.
What a mess.