MPs want a new £190m Royal Yacht as a Prince Philip memorial – and people aren’t impressed

Twitter users have expressed their fury at proposals to memorialise Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, with a royal yacht – to the tune of £190 million.

It comes after Buckingham Palace announced that the Duke of Edinburgh passed away on Friday morning, aged 99.

Several Tory politicians are behind plans for the tribute, which call on Boris Johnson to sanction a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997.

South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay told The Sunday Telegraph: “The towering figure that was the Duke of Edinburgh deserve a permanent tribute to his support for the country, the Commonwealth and the Queen.”

Former Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry added: “The Duke of Edinburgh was well known for his love of Britannia – it is a fitting tribute to now create a new royal yacht named the Duke of Edinburgh in his memory and for the Queen.”

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Sources at Number 10 have reportedly said the proposals were a “nice idea”, but wider plans for UK shipbuilding would have to be considered first.

Also speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, one Cabinet minister said: “Having a symbol of the nation that can travel the world, be used by the Royal family and have another sensible purpose such as helping young people is a better scheme. It could also be a flagship for reinvigorated British shipbuilding.”

However, the idea has been met with fierce criticism online, with many pointing to other policy areas where the £190 million sum could be spent:

It isn’t the first time that expensive modes of transport have come under fire, afterThe Independent revealed that the Government had acquired a second ‘Brexit jet’ for the Prime Minister.

In sum, when you’re dealing with the economic and social fallout of a global pandemic, there are probably more crowd-pleasing ways to spend nearly £200 million than on a shiny new boat or plane.