TORY MPs are asking the British public to put their hands in their pockets and buy the royal family a new boat.

And, as a treat, some of those who donate money to help Prince Andrew sail to the Seychelles, will be in with a chance of winning a top prize.

That’s the proposal being put forward by a group of Tory politicians, including new Dumfries and Galloway MP Alister Jack, to help find the £120 million needed for a Royal Yacht Britannia to “showcase post-Brexit Britain and bring trade to our shores”.

The entrepreneur who made his millions hiring out marquees and running self-storage businesses, was one of 50 Tory MPs to have signed a letter to senior Cabinet ministers pleading to “right the wrong” of the Labour government’s decision in 1997 to decommission Britannia.

The SNP’s Deidre Brock said it was like something from the 19th century.

The Tories want the new yacht to be paid for by public petition, rather than come from government coffers.

One way to help raised funds, they suggest, would be from a new National Lottery game, with profits going to the Britannia.

This, the letter’s signatories say, would allow ordinary Britons “the pride of having a stake” in helping to fund the new yacht which would “showcase the best of British business and project our humanitarian role across the globe”.

The letter – sent to Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, and Tracey Crouch, a culture minister – said: “As we leave the European Union, there has never been a better time to consider how Britain projects herself on the world stage.

“We believe that now is the time to commission a new Royal Yacht Britannia as a new symbol of global Britain, designed and built domestically to showcase the best of UK shipbuilding and industry, and as a platform for promoting trade.”

Ian Paisley and Sammy Wilson from the DUP, and Lord West of Spithead, a former Labour defence minister, has also signed the letter.

In the letter, they said: “There would be no call upon departmental budgets and it would be the people of the UK through the unique funding method who would have the pride of having a stake in her.”

It added: “A new royal yacht will project Britain’s unique soft power and influence around the globe.

“She should be at the disposal of both government ministers and the royal family alike to host diplomatic and commercial events on the new vessel, showcasing post-Brexit Britain and bringing trade to our shores.”

Though the taxpayer wouldn’t have to front the cost, the proposals seems to mean the new royal yacht would belong to the UK state, to give her diplomatic immunity when visiting foreign ports. The paper also reports that she would fly the white ensign, so she is crewed by the Royal Navy.

Johnson and Fox are said to be enthusiastic about the plan.

Brock, who as the Westminster representative for Edinburgh North Leith is the MP for the area where the old Royal Yacht Britannia is situated, was surprised that Tory MPs were still trying to make this happen.

“My first thought was that this was a joke, but if this is a joke it’s not terribly funny, is it?

“We’ve got Tory-imposed austerity biting, food-bank use rocketing and families across the UK facing a tightening squeeze on their household income and the best the Tories can come up with is a wizard wheeze that encourages people to contribute to a £120m yacht.

“This is all part of the Tory’s grand plan to drag us back to the 50s – the 1850s, that is. This is a sign of desperation in the Tory ranks over the looming Brexit disaster – to distract us with baubles.”

Brock added: “Of course the Royal Yacht Britannia is a fantastic tourist attraction in Leith but the Tory obsession that a new yacht will somehow magically deliver them trade deals is simply bizarre.

“Attempting to distract us with baubles such as a new Britannia is surely a sign of the mounting desperation within Tory ranks over the looming crisis of Brexit.”

A spokesman for Camelot, which runs the National Lottery, said any new game would be “a matter for government”.