cleverly told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg No one will be “forced” to do military national service and can instead join the civilian component.
These could include a range of things, such as special constables, on-call firefighters, emergency medical responders and unified public services such as environmental protection, he said.
He insisted that sufficient funding was secured and that the military elements had been discussed with senior military leaders.
He said it was a “modern approach” to national service.
Asked by Trevor Phillips why an election was being held if not all Conservative candidates had been selected, Home Secretary James Cleverley said the selection process would continue..
As for the timing, he said the “economic indicators” are “moving in the right direction.”
He argued that the selection of Conservative candidates before the general election would be done “very quickly” as parties rush to field candidates in seats across the country.
“There will be a lot of places where the selection was really on the verge of happening. I can give you a whole bunch of names… It will happen very quickly.”
The Home Secretary said political parties must “always” hold selections “until the very end”, and insisted there was “nothing unusual about that”.
Home Secretary James Cleverley Under the Conservative plans, 18-year-olds would not be jailed for refusing to do “compulsory” national service, he said.
Questioned Sky News Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips Asked on the show whether people who resisted the coercive scheme could face prison time, he said: “No, there are no criminal penalties. No one is going to prison for this.”
He said other countries that have implemented similar systems have seen “very broad coverage, adoption, acceptance and enthusiasm for this.”
The Conservatives want to ensure the programme “suits the attitudes and aspirations of a range of people”.
He added: “The broader aim of this national service is that we want to build a society where people can interact with people outside their own community, interact with people from different backgrounds, different religions, different income levels.”
“And part of it is about utility to the military. That’s part of it, but a big part of it is about helping build a cohesive society, through the military, the other uniformed services or the non-uniformed services, where people interact outside of their shells.”
“This is about addressing divisions in society, with too many young people living in bubbles within their own communities,” he added.
Asked if this was a move aimed at attracting potential reform voters, he replied: “Our motivation is to make sure we build a cohesive society.”
Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog.
This morning’s headlines Rishi Sunak A future Conservative government has announced it will reinstate national service.
The Prime Minister said the plans would see all 18-year-olds have to either spend time on a competitive full-time military commission or spend one weekend a month volunteering in “civilian resilience”.
The Conservatives said the plans would be partly funded by a £1 billion tax crackdown and £1.5 billion currently being spent on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Labour has criticised the plan as another uncoined policy from the Conservatives, who have already floated the possibility of tax cuts but have yet to release any money. “This is another desperate, £2.5bn unfunded promise from the Conservatives who crashed the economy, caused mortgages to skyrocket and are now desperate for further tax increases,” a spokesman said.
Other Headings:
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves Conservatives accused of promising £64 billion in unfunded spending He is making “desperate and reckless” efforts to salvage a gaffe-ridden general election campaign. ObserverMr Reeves said what appeared to be promises of big cuts to taxes including national insurance, income tax and inheritance tax were reminiscent of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget and showed the Conservative party had learned nothing from Ms Truss’s disastrous years as chancellor.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson He’s abroad for most of the campaign. But friends told The Sunday Telegraph he plans to support them from afar, and Mr Johnson, who has said he will not stand as an MP in the upcoming election, has no plans to cancel a series of trips planned over the coming weeks.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting He promised to tackle the “cultural corruption” that was preventing the NHS from protecting its reputation. Ms Streeting has said she is “putting the national health service before protecting the public” and that patients are not being looked after well. Writing in the Sunday Times, Ms Streeting has warned that the NHS is failing and promised “national church reform”.
The Scottish Labour deputy leader said he was “taking nothing for granted”. Opinion polls suggested the party was set to make big gains north of the border in the general election. Jackie Bailey “We’re moving in the right direction, but I always approach elections with respect… We’re fielding candidates and going door-to-door as much as we can. We started out last year with a goal of maybe six seats and now we’re well over that number.”
John Swinney said The SNP will fight against the ‘twin threats’ of austerity and privatisationHis party is campaigning on public services, and the SNP aims to focus investment in the NHS and other public services in the general election campaign over the next week.
