Rishi Sunak last night attempted to revive a failure-ridden election campaign by announcing that a future Conservative government would reinstate National Service.
The plans are seen as the latest attempt to reduce Conservative defeats by winning over the support of voters who have drifted to Reform UK, but the Prime Minister said all 18-year-olds must spend time on a competitive full-time military commission or spend one weekend a month volunteering with “civic resilience”.
The party said there was a need to be “open and honest” about the long-term challenges facing the country, adding that the scheme would ensure young people had the “opportunities they deserve”.
The proposals would offer 18-year-olds a “bold new model of national service”, allowing them to spend one weekend a month volunteering as a special constable, RNLI volunteer or NHS responder, and authorities claim it would give young people “real-world skills whilst contributing to their country and community”.
In practice, a Royal Commission will be set up to design a new national service programme, with a pilot programme open for applications from September 2025, but legally it will be backed by the National Service Act.
The Conservatives argued the scheme was not equivalent to conscription, saying the coronavirus pandemic had highlighted the importance of public service, and said the new system was “absolutely necessary”.
“Only by fostering a common culture and a sense of duty can we safeguard our nation and its values for decades to come. This is an investment both in the character of our young people and in our security,” the statement said.
The group claimed that a similar scheme had been successful in Sweden, with 80% of young people who had completed national service saying they would recommend it to others their age.
Labour slammed the proposal as another unfunded policy from the Conservatives, who have already raised the possibility of tax cuts but have yet to provide any money. “This is another desperate, £2.5bn unfunded promise from the Conservatives who crashed the economy and caused mortgages to skyrocket, and now they want another increase,” a spokesman said.
“This is not a plan – it’s a multi-billion dollar overhaul that’s only necessary because the Conservatives have hollowed out our military to its smallest size since Napoleon. Britain is tired of a Conservative party that has run out of ideas and has no plan to end 14 years of chaos. Now is the time to rebuild Britain with Labour.”
The Conservatives said the plan would be partly funded by a £1 billion tax crackdown and the £1.5 billion currently spent on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. A similar plan was outlined by David Cameron in 2010, when he proposed to set up a special youth programme for 16-year-olds to end “pointless squandering of potential” among teenagers. The plan never came to fruition.
Mr Sunak has been accused of hypocrisy about his plans. In January, the prime minister rebuked Chief of Staff Patrick Sanders for suggesting Britain might need a national army to take on Putin. A spokesman for the prime minister said at the time that Mr Sunak did not agree with Mr Sanders’ comments and insisted there could be no return to national service, which was abolished in 1960.
Labour figures have also privately accused the Conservatives of letting 18-year-olds solve problems that the government has created, such as boosting the army, supporting the NHS and fixing infrastructure.
