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Senior Tory ministers have reportedly held talks to build a £100 million luxury Royal Yacht for the Queen, further draining Navy resources that are already stretched to breaking point.

Jake Berry, the Northern Powerhouse minister has spoken to Trade Secretary Liam Fox about the costly scheme, according to the Telegraph.

A small band of hardline Tories, most prominent among them Boris Johnson, have called for a new yacht to be built as a “showcase” for Britain on the high seas.

The previous Royal Yacht, Britannia, was decommissioned in 1997 and is now a museum in Edinburgh.

A replacement was designed, but the Labour government refused to pay for it.

(Image: TripAdvisor)

Mr Berry told the Telegraph: “It is proposed that it is a ship for Her Majesty the Queen, a floating palace that can be moved around the world. But when it is not in use by our monarch, it is to be used as a showcase for everything that is best in Britain.”

Last year, Boris Johnson called for a consortium of wealthy benefactors to plunge millions of pounds into funding the new ship.

But even if the taxpayer did not foot the bill for its’ construction, it would still be a drain on already stretched resources.

The previous Royal Yacht required up to 271 Royal Navy crew and officers, plus a platoon of marines and Navy warship escort when on official duties.

The Royal Navy has just 19 destroyers and frigates in active service, plus seven attack submarines.

Between them the Navy and Royal Marines have just 29,420 trained personnel, including reserves.

Top brass complained in May that the submarine fleet was 200 sailors short of full strength, meaning they could only fully crew five of the seven-strong fleet.

Overall, top brass complain they are short at least 2,000 sailors across the fleet.

In February Navy Chiefs were forced to appeal to hundreds of ageing and retired sailors to join the Senior Service on five year contracts to crew the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.