PARTY leaders in Scotland have slammed plans for a new royal yacht named after Prince Philip.
The vessel will reportedly be announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson within weeks and could cost as much as £200 million.
But First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said it was a "ludicrous idea".
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon refutes Tory claims she is planning 'wildcat' referendum
Speaking during the final BBC leader's debate before the Holyrood election, she said: "Let's just be blunt about this.
"The only reason Boris Johnson has been talking about this is to try to distract attention from the sleaze that is swirling around him and his Government - everybody should see through it, and frankly it's one more reason why Boris Johnson should not be the guy making the decisions about the future of Scotland."
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie labelled the plans an "absurdity".
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: "I could think of probably 500 other things I would rather spend that money on than a royal yacht."
He added: "To be honest, I don't know why we're debating this. The royal yacht is a ludicrous idea.
"It will never happen. It's one of Boris Johnson's tricks to try and attract attention.
"We should be focusing on things that make a difference to people's lives in Scotland."
READ MORE: Scottish Election 2021: Who do you think won the BBC Leaders' Debate?
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said he understood private investment would be used to build the vessel.
Asked if public money should be used on the project, Mr Ross said: "Absolutely not".
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar described the move as a "stunt".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel