Former Royal Navy chief warns building new £250m ‘floating embassy’ ahead of other defence priorities 'not clever'

Labour peer Lord West of Spithead raised his concerns at Westminster about the focus on the successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The former security minister has previously stressed the urgent need for military spending given the danger of a world war following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has heightened international tensions.

It has been estimated the flagship could cost as much as £250m.

The ‘floating embassy’ is due to be paid for out of the already stretched Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget, even though No 10 has confirmed it will be for trade rather than military purposes.

At the end of last year, the Commons Defence Committee warned the vessel would provide no advantage to the navy and called for more warships to be built given the growing global threat.

Speaking in parliament, Lord West, who served as First Sea Lord from 2002 to 2006, said: ‘Focusing on building this national flagship in advance of some things that are crucial for our defence is not a clever thing to do.’

Responding, Cabinet Office minister Lord True said: ‘I always note it when a former sea lord is against building a ship.’

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace justified the cost of the new flagship to MPs last year by pointing out the estimated price tag was less than 0.1 per cent of the £13bn defence budget for shipbuilding over the next 10 years.

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 and will be aimed at boosting the Tory administration’s post-Brexit vision of the UK as a global trading nation.

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

The Royal Yacht Britannia sailed into Portsmouth for the last time in 1997 before being decommissioned. The Duke of Edinburgh criticised the decision to decommission the vessel, which was taken out of service after 43 years.

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