In the wake of Rishi Sunak’s general election announcement, the Prime Minister has also announced a new plan to introduce a form of national service for 18-year-olds in the UK.
Under the Conservatives’ new proposal, young people would be given a choice between a full-time placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spending one weekend a month for a year “volunteering” in their community, the Tories said.
The Prime Minister said the policy would help unite society in an “increasingly uncertain world” and give young people a “shared sense of purpose”.
The most recent form of compulsory national service, which required all physically fit male British citizens aged between 18 and 26 to serve in the armed forces, was abolished in 1960.
Mr Sunak said the new plans would make it compulsory for 18-year-olds to serve the 12 months in the armed forces, or volunteer for local initiatives such as delivering prescriptions and food to elderly people, or helping in search and rescue.
The Conservative Party leader also posted a video on Tik Tok in an effort to reach younger audiences saying he wasn’t ‘sending everyone off to the army’, but instead proposing ‘a bold new model of national service.’
READ MORE:
- When did national service end in the UK? Why it started
- What was national service and how does it work in other countries?
Mr Sunak said: “This will give all young people valuable life skills, make our country more secure, and build a stronger national culture.
“Plus, people will receive best-in-class training in critical skills from Cyber to Civil Engineering, and leadership.”
The proposals have already proved controversial both within the conservatives and the opposition.
Just two days before the plans were announced, a Conservative defence minister, Andrew Murrison said there were ‘no plans’ to bring in the policy saying it could damage morale if “potentially unwilling” recruits were forced to serve alongside armed forces personnel.
In a statement on behalf of the Government responding to a written parliamentary question published on Thursday, after Mr Sunak had called a July 4 election, the minister said: “If potentially unwilling national service recruits were to be obliged to serve alongside the professional men and women of our armed forces, it could damage morale, recruitment and retention and would consume professional military and naval resources.
“If, on the other hand, national service recruits were kept in separate units, it would be difficult to find a proper and meaningful role for them, potentially harming motivation and discipline.
“For all these reasons, there are no current plans for the restoration of any form of national service.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer gave his opinion on the plans while making his first keynote election campaign speech in West Sussex on Monday.
He said: “All this spinning round and round, it’s symbolic of the chaos and instability, and we’ve seen that again over the past few days that the desperation of this national service policy, a sort of teenage dads army, I kid you not, is to be paid for by cancelling levelling up funding and money from tax avoidance, that we would use to invest in our NHS.
“All elections are a choice and this is a clear one: levelling-up and the NHS with Labour or more desperate chaos with the Tories. That is the choice.”
The scheme will cost £2.5 billion a year by 2029-30, according to the Conservatives’ figures.
Now, we want to know what Herald readers think – should national service in the UK be re-introduced?
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