We don’t need a £250m GB ship….we really don’t

[GardenNinjaIng]

Plans for new £250m 'jewel in the crown' national flagship to be unveiled ahead of Platinum Jubilee. Read the room folks…

‘ The final design for the new national flagship - seen as a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia - will be unveiled ahead of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations later this year.

A new national shipbuilding strategy, published by Boris Johnson on Thursday, commits to unveiling the design for the new flagship to "showcase cutting-edge British shipbuilding, engineering and technology, particularly clean maritime technologies" in the spring.

Officials are hoping that the grand reveal of the new £250 million ship - before the Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend, marking her 70 years on the throne - will be seen as a "restatement of the values and business case of the ship".’

Yanbu it was sad for HRH they scraped the old one, but she’s too old now surely to enjoy a replacement. The old one was from a different era, we hardly need one now with international travel so easy.

I still try to understand what the purpose of the ship is. Can you see ministers using it instead of a plane to go on trips? Or even the Royal Family?

The cost to maintain and staff the ship must be horrendous.

I think if they need a ship they should buy it themselves

If the Garden Bridge is any guide, it will never be built but millions will be spent on the design.

I was under the impression that this plan was BJ chest beating and understood that HMQ was not "on board" with the idea.

From the sounds of it it's to showcase British shipbuilding. Might be good to have some of the multiplying cruise ships built here.

They should read the room. How many people can't afford to eat, or heat their homes?

It’s just typical isn’t it

British Public:- gas is going up! Food is going up! Electric is going up! We can’t get doctors appointments, hospital appointments, or dentist appointments. Help!

Government:- of course we will help! We will build a new ship

British Public:-

I understood Johnson announced it as a national flagship, rather than a "royal" yacht in the same sense the previous Britannia was.

That said, the amount of diplomacy and trade deals carried out on Britannia was huge, so if this is the same it should more than pay for itself in the long run...

It's coming out of the MOD budget and will be used by the Royal Navy, but not as a war ship. I know about it because there's pressure to give the contract to Cammell Laird. We certainly need a boost on Merseyside. The government has been asked how it will be value for money because the original cost was going to be £100 million, but now it's turned into a vanity project. I don't see how we can justify the spending. We should be taking to the streets because we've been shown again and again that austerity wasn't needed.

@helpfulperson

From the sounds of it it's to showcase British shipbuilding. Might be good to have some of the multiplying cruise ships built here.

And it's a way to prop up a sector, and keep people in work for a while

It's worth keeping the ship building skills, especially in the current climate.