EU President has the charisma of a damp rag

[Boohugh]

Possibly true, but the world has changed much from the days of the Empire.

Very true, in the current globalised world we need a stable system of trade more than ever.

Where once were several European nations trying to screw each other over colonial affairs and maritime trade routes, now there is pretty much free trade in the world. A Romanian ship will pass through Malaca strait just like a British ship would and if one of the big boys (India, China, US...) tried to change how it works, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway.

That's a very state-centric view of things and wouldn't necessarily be considered the main threat currently. Take Somalia and Yemen for instance, both straddle one of the most important waterways in the world, but it isn't the states themselves that are causing problems, it's the turmoil inside the states that creates instability. It's in the UK's interests to have a military cabable of intervening in those areas if necessary, especially as most other nations seem unwilling or unable to, which requires a navy with the correct capabilities. Yes you can argue that we are unlikely to intervene alone, but that is why our military is centred around operating in alliances with other nations and very rarely on our own. It is in the UK's interests for trade to go smoothly for everyone, not just ourselves, so any instability in any region is a threat to that.

So, building and maintaining a huge navy is just a waste of money, in my humble opinion.

For starters, I'd hardly call it huge (as Louis will be more than happy to point out, even the French have a bigger navy than us now!). There are barely enough ships and personnel to maintain our standing committments to the EU, NATO and the Commonwealth and our operations supporting current missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, so downsizing isn't really going to help anyone. Having a navy capable of things only one or two other nations can do allows us to punch way above our weight politically and is really rather cheap in comparison to the benefits it provides.