Tory MPs call for lottery to fund new royal yacht

Jan 9, 2018 by Triton Staff

Fifty conservative members of the British parliament have written a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet urging them to launch a lottery game to pay for a new royal yacht, estimated at 120 million pounds.

Tory MPs who signed the letter said a lottery would allow the public to feel “the pride of having a stake” in the boat, and that with the country leaving the European Union, “there has never been a better time to consider how Britain projects herself on the world stage,” according to news reports.

“We believe that now is the time to commission a new Royal Yacht Britannia as a new symbol of global Britain, designed and built domestically to showcase the best of UK shipbuilding and industry, and as a platform for promoting trade,” the letter stated.

The old royal yacht was decommissioned by the Labour party in 1997 when then-Prime Minister Tony Blair decided repair costs were too high. The HMY Britannia had been used by the Queen and royal family on official visits for 40 years, traveling more than a million miles at sea.

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