An announcement by the governing Conservatives that Queen Elizabeth II will get a new yacht was designed as a pre-election appeal to old-fashioned sentiments of pride and patriotism.
However, the price tag to replace the 412-foot Britannia with something nice for the 21st century is $100 million - and opposition Labor Party leaders aren't sure they'll pay if their left-of-center party wins elections this spring.Anti-monarchists complain the yacht is an expensive anachronism used largely for royal holidays, honeymoons and mistresses and entertaining foreign heads of state. Most Britons have never set foot on it.
The government argues that Britain benefits when Britannia sails into foreign ports on state visits that promote business as a discreet sideline.
"It's an extravagance and it's an unnecessary one," Labor legislator Tony Banks said Thursday.
Defense Secretary Michael Portillo called the new royal yacht "an important national asset and projects a prestigious image of Britain."