Reintroducing mandatory national service is something that conservatives want to do.

If the Conservatives win the general election, they would reinstate twelve months of forced national service.

Eighteen-year-olds might seek to be placed on one of 30,000 full-time military assignments or to volunteer for a community service project one weekend per month.

Reintroducing mandatory service nationwide, according to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will contribute to strengthening the “national spirit” that surfaced during the pandemic.

The plans, which are projected to cost roughly £2.5 billion, were criticized by Labour as “desperate” and “unfunded”.

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The Conservatives want a pilot program to begin in September 2025, with the first teens participating. A Royal Commission will determine the specifics of the program.

Young people could learn about cyber security, logistics, procurement, or civil response operations through their placement in the armed forces.

Volunteering outside of the military would entail working for 25 days for agencies like the NHS, police, and fire department.

This is a great country, but there are forces dividing our society in this increasingly uncertain world, and generations of young people have not had the opportunities or experience they deserve. 

Mr. Sunak stated, “I will bring in a new model of national service to create a shared sense of purpose among our young people and a renewed sense of pride in our country.”

Young people will get “real world skills, do new things, and contribute to their community and our country,” he continued, with the assistance of this initiative.

The Conservatives claimed the action would assist avert “lives of unemployment and crime” for young people who were unemployed, not in school or training, or at risk of being embroiled in the criminal justice system.

What penalties those who chose not to participate could face was not specified.

Rather, they said, national service would “ignite a passion for a future career in healthcare, public service, charity, or the armed forces” and provide “valuable work experience”.

The party said that starting in 2028, £1.5 billion would be taken out of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in order to cover the £2.5 billion cost of national service. 

Plans to toughen up on tax evasion and avoidance would bring in an additional £1 billion.

A spokesman for the Labour Party claimed that in 2010 former prime minister David Cameron’s “Big Society” proposed a concept akin to this.

According to Labour: 

“This is another desperate £2.5 billion unfunded commitment from a Tory Party which already crashed the economy, sending mortgages rocketing, and now they’re spoiling for more. 

“This is not a plan – it’s a review which could cost billions and is only needed because the Tories hollowed out the armed forces to their smallest size since Napoleon.”

Richard Foord MP, the Liberal Democrat’s defense spokesman, charged that the Conservatives were reducing soldier levels.

Mr. Foord continued: “If the Conservatives were serious about defence, they would reverse their damaging cuts to our world class professional armed forces, instead of decimating them, with swingeing cuts to the number of our regular service personnel.”

“Once upon a time, our military might was admired globally. This conservative administration has reduced military levels and intends to further reduce the size of the Army.”

There are currently no details regarding what would happen in Northern Ireland, since military conscription has never been implemented.

• In 1947, following World War II, Clement Attlee’s Labour administration instituted national service.
• It required men to serve in the military for eighteen months between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one.
• In 1960, the required national service program was terminated.
• Sir Patrick Sanders, the Chief of the General Staff, expressed earlier this year that the UK would require a “citizen army” to combat Putin, but Mr. Sunak’s staff at the time brushed his concerns off as “not helpful”.

Conscription is already in place for a number of European nations, such as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, for their military services.

Young men and women must spend a set period of time in uniform as part of conscription. 

It implies that a portion of the populace will have received military training, enabling them to serve in reserve formations in the event of a conflict.

The British Army’s size decreased due to cuts; it was approximately 73,000 strong as of January 2024, down from over 100,000 in 2010. 

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