Why Britain did not build escort carriers alongside early wartime escorts

Why did Britain not build auxiliary or escort carriers alongside the early Flower-class escorts?

The concepts existed, but fleet carriers took priority and a wartime construction pause disrupted the specialist carrier supply chain just when rapid expansion was needed.

The Royal Navy had prewar concepts for fast tankers, merchant aircraft carriers, and naval-built cruiser carriers that could perform escort-carrier work. Fleet carriers received priority because they could protect shipping while also serving the battle fleet. Churchill's temporary carrier-construction halt interrupted not just hull work but catapults, arresting gear, skilled labor, and other specialist suppliers. Restarting that network during wartime took far longer than the nominal six-month pause, illustrating how a top-level procurement decision propagates through an industrial base.