New Britannia to have ‘national security’ role to bypass global procurement rules.

The £250 million “trade yacht” championed by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, as a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia will be deemed to have a “national security” role, in a move that will enable its construction to be reserved for a British shipyard rather then being exposed to international tender and potential construction overseas.

The plurilateral Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) which the United Kingdom re-joined in 2020 as a signatory state following its exit from the European Union requires the UK to put all civilian ship building out to international tender competition.

Application of this international treaty commitment has already caused the UK’s devolved Scottish Government acute political embarrassment with Scotland's state-owned shipyard, Ferguson Marine in Glasgow, failing to qualify to tender for the construction of two ferries to serve the Scottish islands of Islay and Jura.

Shipyards from Turkey, Romania and Poland are now in contention for the contracts worth an estimated £100m.

Whilst the GPA exempts warships, it had had hitherto been considered that the replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia, decommissioned in 1997 by the Blair government, that as an unarmed vessel the yacht would not qualify.

Despite Its principal purpose being to act as a floating venue for trade fairs and diplomatic receptions, the Ministry of Defence plan fit the vessel with security and communications equipment.

Facilities such as a secure room and other security technologies could be used for UK ministers to hold meetings with the foreign counterparts without the risk of being spied upon, and also facilitate the exchange of classified information at sea or in port.

Doing so, officials believe, will allow it to reserve construction to a British shipyard upon the grounds of ‘national security’, despite being a civilian vessel which would in other circumstances be tendered on the open market in compliance with the GPA.

A MoD source speaking to The Times newspaper said

“There is a get-out clause if there is a security element to it and it is down to each nation to define what that is. This could see us have capabilities that allow us to have secure communications between the ship and the outside world.”

An international design competition for the yacht is already underway with the result to be announced in December.

Construction is due to begin next year and it should be built by 2024 or 2025 at the latest.