Why Britain still did not mass-produce light carriers

Could the Royal Navy have built several light carriers after the Second London Naval Treaty?

Yes, but Treasury policy and the time needed to restore shipyard capacity kept the opportunity from becoming a large program.

Light carriers could take reconnaissance, commerce protection, transport, and training burdens away from fleet carriers. Treaty permission alone did not create the money, workers, slips, and cranes required to build them. Although the Ten Year Rule officially ended in 1932, its practical effects lingered until rearmament accelerated around 1937. Yard-capacity claims also need careful scrutiny: one study described here used criteria so narrow that it excluded a yard actually building a King George V-class battleship. Cranes, slip size, weight handling, and the cost of reasonable modifications must be assessed together. The missed force structure reflects fiscal and industrial mobilization rather than an absence of useful designs.