I wasn't talking about building full size carriers but rather the design process being born out of a mistaken assumption the UK government at the time believing that there is no future for carriers of any type, not even light ones. If they had gone with a light ASW carrier from the beginning of the plannings stage (with a secondary eye towards command facilities) the result would probably have been a bit better than OTL.
The design couldn't really be based around a light carrier because the original Harrier GR1 only RAF entered service in 1969 and didn't really prove itself at a squadron level aboard ships USS Guam in 1973-74 and USS FDR in 1976. The Sea Harrier wasn't ordered into development until 1975, by which time the 1970 Conservative Government had partly reversed the Labor decision to end carrier aviation and extend the Ark Royal out to 1978, when there was no danger that the RN would ever again get big fleet carriers.