Why treaty limits mattered more than money to Royal Navy cruiser numbers

Did the Royal Navy suffer from a cruiser shortage because of money?

He says treaty ceilings were the main constraint because governments generally funded cruiser construction, while the navy wanted at least seventy and preferably around eighty ships.

The Royal Navy's cruiser shortage cannot be explained by budgets alone. Governments were usually willing to provide money for cruisers because the service could make a strong case for their many imperial and fleet duties. The harder ceiling came from treaty restrictions, including the compromises visible in County and later cruiser designs. The navy wanted at least seventy cruisers and would have preferred roughly eighty. Fiscal austerity differed from an international arms-control limit that constrained how money could be turned into hulls.