The new national flagship to replace the Royal Yacht Britannia will be like the 2012 Olympics - people were suspicious about it until it became a reality, Ben Wallace, the minister in charge of the project, has declared. However, Mr Wallace admitted that he had not ordered a business plan to be carried out yet which could alarm critics of the scheme, which increased from an initial £150million to £250million in just a week. Plans for the new ship have been criticised by senior Tories including former Prime Minister Sir John Major and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph moments later, Mr Wallace said: "It is anything but a vanity project. All the doomsters slagging it off, I bet they are exactly the same people that slagged off the Olympics in 2012.

Source: Daily Nation August 01, 2021 04:52 UTC