- author, Jennifer McKiernan & Emily McGarvey
- role, BBC Politics
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If the Conservatives win the general election, 12 months’ compulsory national service will be reintroduced.
Eighteen-year-olds will be able to apply for either one of the 30,000 full-time military deployments or volunteer to do community service one weekend a month.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he believed reinstating compulsory military service across the UK would help foster the “national spirit” that has emerged during the pandemic.
Labour has criticised the plans, expected to cost around £2.5bn, as “desperate” and “underfunded”.
The Conservatives want the first teenagers to take part in the trials from September 2025, with details to be decided by the royal commission.
Training in the military will allow young people to learn about cybersecurity, logistics, procurement, civilian response operations and more.
Non-military volunteering includes 25 days working for organisations such as the fire department, police or NHS.
“This country is great, but generations of young people are being denied the opportunities and experiences they deserve, and there are forces that seek to divide our society in an increasingly uncertain world,” Mr Sunak said.
“I will introduce a new model of national service to create a sense of common purpose and generate renewed pride in our country among our young people.”
He added that the measures would help young people “learn real-world skills, try new things and contribute to their communities and country.”
The Conservatives said the measures would help keep young people who are out of work, education or training, or at risk of becoming involved in crime, away from “lives of unemployment and crime”.
He could not say what sanctions those who do not participate might face.
Instead, they argued, national service would provide them with “valuable work experience” and “ignite a passion for a future career in healthcare, public service, charity or the military.”
The party said £1.5bn of the £2.5bn cost of NHS services would be diverted from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund from 2028. A further £1bn would come from plans to crack down on tax fraud and evasion.
Labour said: “This is another desperate £2.5bn unfunded promise by the Conservatives who have already crashed the economy and sent mortgage prices soaring, and now they want more money.”
“This is not a plan, it’s a multi-billion dollar overhaul, and it’s only become necessary because the Conservative government has shrunk the military to its smallest size since Napoleon.”
Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Richard Ford MP accused the Conservatives of cutting forces.
“If the Conservatives were serious about defence they would reverse these damaging cuts to our regular military rather than making massive cuts that would wipe out our world-class, professional army,” Ford said.
“Our military was once the envy of the world. The current Conservative government has cut forces and is planning to cut further the size of the Army.”
Conscription has never been applied in Northern Ireland before and so far details of what will happen there are unclear.
National Service was introduced by Clement Attlee’s Labour government in 1947 after the Second World War.
This meant that men between the ages of 17 and 21 had to serve in the military for 18 months.
The compulsory national service system ended in 1960.
Earlier this year, Sir Patrick Sanders, the Chief of the British General Staff, suggested the UK might need a “civil army” to take on Putin, a suggestion dismissed by Mr Sunak’s team at the time as “unhelpful”.
Many European countries, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark, already have some form of conscription for their armed forces.
Conscription requires young men and women to don a uniform and serve in the military for a set period of time, meaning some of the population is undergoing military training and may be assigned to reserve units in the event of war.
Cuts to the British Army’s personnel have reduced its size from more than 100,000 in 2010 to around 73,000 by January 2024.
