A NEW £200 million royal yacht will “pay for itself many, many times over”, according to the UK's Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Hancock defended the plans after former Tory chancellor Ken Clarke described them as a "complete waste of time".
Proposals for a new royal yacht have been controversial – with no-one in the UK Government knowing how it will be funded and one official branding it all an “utter s***show”.
The MoD was handed the project, but it is looking to cover a £16 billion funding “black hole” in its own budget. The department was reportedly not even told of the plans to build a new royal yacht, having to find out through the media.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson's royal yacht plan in turmoil over who will foot bill
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Clarke said that spending £200m on a new royal yacht would be a “complete waste of time”.
Asked if he thought the yacht was a good use of public funds, he said: “Complete waste of time, silly populist nonsense.
“It’s a symptom, £200m is not going to cause problems, but it shows there are people in Number 10 who just think there’s free money and who think that waving a Union Jack and sending yachts and aircraft carriers around the world shows what a great power we are.
“We have no money for that kind of thing.”
Later this morning, Hancock fired back. “The amount of investment that you can get in from the rest of the world by showing the best of Britain in harbours the world over is very, very significant,” he told the programme.
“And I think we should be getting out there and trading with the world.
“And so I think that a royal yacht is a great idea and I’m very positive about it, because I think it will more than pay for itself many, many times over.”
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