The royal yacht Britannia in 1977 (Picture: Getty Images)

Ministers are apparently considering investing in a new royal yacht Britannia.

Apparently the ship, which would cost £100million, would help boost the country’s floundering economy by securing trade deals post-Brexit.

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Tory ministers are apparently very keen on ‘new ideas’ like relaunching a yacht almost 20 years after it was decommissioned.

The Britannia retired from service in 1997, but is supposed to have helped secure £3billion in trade deals between 1991 and 1995.


According to the Telegraph some 100 Tory MPs – a third of the whole party – are now backing a campaign calling for a ministerial panel to examine the case for a new ship.

The Queen on the original yacht in 1992 (Picture: Getty Images)

Britannia off the coast of Samoa in 1977 (Picture: Getty Images)

A letter has now been sent to Theresa May, with signatories including Michael Gove, saying: ‘Now is the time to once again project the prestige of this nation across the globe.’



The paper added that people had offered to sacrifice their winter fuel payments in order to donate to the campaign, even though no fund has officially been set up.

A Whitehall source told the Telegraph: ‘We recognise the strength of passions that have been aroused for a new royal yacht.

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‘We are listening to the arguments and are always open to new ideas like this that will take Britain out of the EU and into the 21st century.’

And Jake Berry MP, who is leading the campaign in the Commons, said he believed the Government is ‘in listening mode in relation to the new royal yacht’.

In two weeks’ time, peers will also debate bringing back a royal yacht in the House of Lords.