The shipyard boss at the Harland & Wolff Group has expressed disappointment after the UK Government scrapped a shipbuilding contract worth £250 million.
The Belfast-based group which owns shipyards in Arnish and Methil in Scotland and Appledore in England, was one of two finalists in the running to land the lucrative contract of the national flagship and aimed to promoting Britain around the world.
But the massive contract to create a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia decommissioned in 1997 and now a museum ship in Leith Docks, has been ditched as part of Rishi Sunak’s squeeze on government spending.
As Afloat reported in 2021, the plan for a new royal yacht was championed by the then prime minister Boris Johnson, but was dismissed as a "vanity project" by critics.
On Monday, the UK’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told MPs he was prioritising in the procurement of a multi-role ocean surveillance ship (MROSS) instead of the flagship. The newbuild was to be much larger than the 1953 Clydeside built Britannia.
Harland & Wolff's Chief executive John Wood said the company had planned to use the flagship contract as a launch platform for ‘green shipbuilding’ projects.
For more The Irish News reports on the decision given the challenging public finances.
