No Diamond Jubilee yacht for Queen, says David Cameron

THE Prime Minister has dismissed the idea that public money could be used to buy a new yacht to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

David Cameron’s official spokesman said this morning that the Prime Minister did not think it would be “appropriate” to spend taxpayers money on a new yacht at a time of economic austerity.

Leaks today suggested that Education Secretary Michael Gove had raised the idea of a replacement for the scrapped Britannia as part of the celebrations to commemorate the Queen’s 60 years on the throne, however, he has since denied making the suggestion at taxpayers’ expense.

Mr Cameron’s spokesman said: “Clearly there is a difficult economic situation, there are scarce resources, and therefore we don’t think it would be an appropriate use of public money at the present time.”

Speaking at Education questions in the Commons, Mr Gove said: “The letter which I wrote to the Prime Minister on September 12 clearly stated that I agree of course the project for a royal yacht, the future ship project for the 21st century, was one - and I was quite clear in my letter - where no public funding should be provided.”