Fury as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirms £200million cost of a new ‘royal yacht’ will come out of military budget despite being an unarmed ‘national flagship’ used to …

The successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia will be paid for out of Britain’s defence budget despite being an unarmed ‘trade vessel’ it was revealed today.

The £200million ‘national flagship’ will be funded out of the already overstretched Armed Forces coffers and crewed by Royal Navy sailors, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed.

But the announcement sparked fury after Downing Street said it would not carry guns or missiles and would be used for trade rather than military purposes, however.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is being asked to pay for the national flagship even though MPs have previously criticised the ‘funding black hole’ of £17 billion in the department’s equipment budget. 

The Royal Family is also said to be lukewarm about the scheme, turning down the opportunity to have the ship named after the Duke of Edinburgh. 

Ex-defence minister Tobias Ellwood suggested proposals to leave the vessel unarmed could put extra pressure on the Royal Navy.

He said it would be ‘more efficient’ to use a repurposed Type 23 frigate as the successor to the Britannia if the MoD was being asked to pay.

‘Any other vessel would require a warship escort and that’s an extra burden our overstretched surface fleet cannot afford,’ the Commons Defence Committee chairman tweeted.

The successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia will be paid for out of Britain’s defence budget despite being an unarmed ‘trade vessel’ it was revealed today.

The £200million ‘national flagship’ will be funded out of the already overstretched Armed Forces coffers and crewed by Royal Navy sailors, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed.

Ex-defence minister Tobias Ellwood suggested proposals to leave the vessel unarmed could put extra pressure on the Royal Navy.

Earlier this year, Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee warned that defence chiefs faced ‘tough choices’ if they were to balance the books.

Despite the procurement coming from the MoD, No 10 plans to build the ship in the UK at a reported cost of up to £200 million and use it to boost the UK’s post-Brexit trading opportunities.

Construction of the new ship is expected to begin as soon as 2022 and it will enter service within the next four years.

The ship will be crewed by the Royal Navy and is expected to be in service for around 30 years.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: ‘This new national flagship will boost British trade and drive investment into the economy.

‘The procurement process, which is being done through the MoD, will reflect its wide-ranging use and so it will be funded through the MoD, as set out previously.’ 

Recent polling has indicated that a majority of the public are against spending money on a new trade ship.

A YouGov survey in April found that 51 per cent of people questioned were opposed to replacing the Britannia with an updated vessel, with only 25 per cent in favour.

Similarly, 57 per cent said spending on a new vessel could not be justified, versus 26 per cent who thought it could be.

The vessel will be used to host trade fairs, ministerial summits and diplomatic talks as the UK seeks to build links and boost exports following Brexit.

It will be the first national flagship since Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997, but the new vessel will be a ship rather than a luxury yacht.

The vessel would replace the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997 after service of more than 40 years.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman, pressed on reports the vessel could be classified as a ‘warship’ and have guns attached, told reporters: ‘We will set out the exact detail in due course but this is a trade ship, it is not a military vessel.’

Asked whether that meant it would not be a warship, he replied: ‘That’s correct.’

The Downing Street official declined to comment on how the MoD could afford to build the multi-million pound yacht, given its own equipment budget deficit.

The Liberal Democrats have called for the flagship to have a ‘double’ defence purpose to justify the expenditure.

Defence spokesman Jamie Stone said: ‘If we are to have a ”national yacht” then it must double up as a vessel having a very clear defence capability within the Royal Navy.

‘Otherwise the cost becomes incredibly hard to justify at a time we are cutting troop numbers.’

But Business secretary Kwasi Kwateng this mornign backed the plan. 

‘I think it is a good idea actually,’ Kwarteng told Sky, though he said there was still a discussion in government over the plans. ‘It’s a huge amount of money.

‘What it does is it represents Britain – it is a symbol of Britain and if you are going on trade missions – that is exactly the way we would drive trade.’