Money and armour plate constrained a British large cruiser

What kept a British Alaska-style large cruiser from being built?

Budget policy and scarce armour-plate capacity mattered more than the absence of a technically plausible design.

Budget was the main barrier after the gun and ship concept itself. The Royal Navy's shortage of money differed from the British state's capacity to spend, since rapid repayment of First World War debt reflected a policy choice. More investment in the armed forces could have produced different designs, but timing still mattered. By the late 1930s King George V, Vanguard, and other rearmament demands competed for a limited supply of armour plate, leaving little industrial room for another heavy class.