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Britain needs new Royal Yacht Britannia to provide 'morale boost', says former trade minister

Britain needs new Royal Yacht Britannia to provide 'morale boost', says former trade minister
Britain needs new Royal Yacht Britannia to provide 'morale boost', says former trade minister
Chopper's - Trevor Phillips and Andrea Leadsom
Chopper's - Trevor Phillips and Andrea Leadsom

Britain needs a new Royal Yacht Britannia to give the country a "morale boost" as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, a former trade minister and head of the CBI says.

Lord Jones of Birmingham, who as Digby Jones ran the CBI for six years from 2000 to 2006 and later served in Gordon Brown's government as a minister, said a £100 million replacement could be funded by a "three-way split" between businesses, taxpayers and the National Lottery.

HMY Britannia — which is now a visitor attraction in Edinburgh —  was controversially decommissioned in 1997. The Telegraph has been campaigning for a new privately funded replacement for the past four years.

A secret naval design for a £100m replacement for Britannia was drawn up by naval staff at the time and approved by representatives of the royal family but the Labour Government refused to pay for it.

Lord Jones, who served in the last Labour government as a trade minister, told this week's Chopper's Politics podcast - which you can listen to on the player above - that a new royal yacht was an "an investment in the future" and said he wanted to see work start next year.

At a glance | How Royal Yacht Britannia compares with 1997 Future Royal Yacht design
At a glance | How Royal Yacht Britannia compares with 1997 Future Royal Yacht design

He said: "Why now? [It would be] one of the biggest morale boosts you can have. You'd have it doing tours of Britain, and open days you'd be amazed how many people will come to that.

"And why now? Because the nation is going to come through this in better shape. If we actually believe in ourselves. That's what we need to believe in ourselves ...

"We have a damn good chance in this country and a royal yacht at this moment would just be one of those good quality delivery messages."

Lord Jones said that he had been approached by several "export-focused businesses" before the Covid-19 crisis about helping to support a replacement.

"I was Minister of State for Trade. I got round 90-odd countries, banging the drum for British business, brand Britain. And I can tell you the Royal Britannia moored in a harbour, asking big decision makers on board [offers] the atmosphere of something that no other country has got — the British Royal Family.

"I don't care what the politically correct 'Liberal-ati' from Metropolitan Islington say, believe me it sells around the world like very few other things."

Royal Yacht Britannia -  - AP
Royal Yacht Britannia - - AP

Lord Jones said he would ask small export facing companies to offer £5,000 each, with large firms offering more to fund construction which would be done in a way to support apprentices.

The finished vessel would be used to help UK companies promote their businesses as well as "other parts of the public realm" such as British universities, he said.

Lord Jones said he hoped that the Duke of Cambridge would get on board with the plans.

He added: "Let's get it bought in for the whole country, it is not an elitist thing and it is not an old age thing - this is something that 13 year old, 14 year old teenagers could relate to as well."

On Thursday Commodore Tony Morrow, the last captain of HMY Britannia, said: "I welcome this idea which will need to be carefully presented and need the fullest possible understanding of how to be manned and operated.   "I remain ready to support this approach should it move forward."

Scores of MPs including Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office secretary, and Liam Fox, the former International Trade secretary, have backed the idea.

Listen to the full interview on the audio player at the top of this page, and subscribe to Chopper's Politics podcast here.