Plans to build a new royal yacht to drive post-Brexit trade deals have been scrapped with immediate effect.

The government has cancelled its plans to build a Brexit trade yacht with "immediate effect", the defence secretary has announced.

So far, the MoD has spent nearly £2.5 million on staffing costs and consultancy fees related to the project.

A £250m national flagship proposed by former prime minister Boris Johnson while in office will be cancelled by the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, according to various news reports.

Boris Johnson chronically confuses culture and economics of affair called Brexit.

Amid withering criticism of project from likes of Ken Clarke, MoD learns it may not have to pay whole bill.

A new national flagship, the successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, will promote British trade and industry around the world, Boris Johnson has said.

This project is a symbol not of Britain’s greatness but of arrogance, delusion and deliberately engineered division.

A new Royal Yacht Britannia would act as a boon to the UK’s international trade and “unite” the country following the bitter divisions of the Brexit debate, a government minister has said.