Why Britain deferred small-carrier construction in peacetime

Why did Britain close the small-carrier treaty loophole instead of building many such ships?

The Navy expected it could build small carriers quickly in wartime and feared the Treasury would use them as a cheap replacement for fleet carriers in peacetime.

Britain understood that small carriers could be built quickly when needed. The peacetime danger was budgetary: the Treasury might compare a cheap light carrier with a fleet carrier, authorize two small ships, and cancel the larger one. The Navy therefore protected scarce peacetime resources for fleet carriers while leaving smaller types for later mobilization. British treatment of corvettes and destroyers followed a comparable institutional logic.