ROYAL YACHT "BRITANNIA"

That this House believes that it is time to retire the Royal Yacht 'Britannia'; believes that the growing use of the Royal Flight has made the Yacht increasingly irrelevant with only 27 days of royal use a year; finds it impossible to justify its ú11.4 million a year running cost at a time when crucial services are facing resource problems; notes that ú32 million at today's prices has been spent on refits during the last 10 years, including ú3 million in 1987-88 and another ú400,000 last year on the rarely used royal apartments; notes, contrary to the impression given, that in addition to its 27 days royal usage it was used for only three days in each of the last two years for seminars and conferences, and that it never has seen use as a hospital ship and is now regarded by the Ministry of Defence as unsuitable for that purpose; does not accept that it justifies a daily cost of ú31,000, of which ú10, 000 is the daily crew cost, when it does not fulfil its intended role for more than 330 days of the year; and hopes the Comptroller and Auditor General will initiate a value for money examination of the ú19 million a year spent by government departments on providing facilities for royal travel by rail, sea and air.