Britain’s Conservative Party has unveiled a controversial plan to introduce mandatory national service for 18-year-olds if it secures victory in the upcoming national election on July 4th. The policy, announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday, would require young adults to choose between spending one weekend a month volunteering over the course of a year or taking up one of 30,000 spaces to spend a year in the armed forces.
The announcement comes as the Conservatives lag significantly behind the Labour Party in opinion polls, with Sunak’s surprise election call last Wednesday doing little to improve his party’s fortunes. Sunak framed the proposal as a necessary response to the “dangerous and divided” future Britain faces, asserting that “our democratic values are under threat.”
“That is why we will introduce a bold new model of national service for 18-year-olds,” Sunak stated in a statement outlining the plan.
The Conservative Party has proposed funding the initiative by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion, as well as diverting funds from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which was established to reduce regional economic inequality.
The announcement drew swift criticism from Labour politicians, with Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, stating, “The national service we need from our young people is to vote for change on 4th July.”
While Interior Minister James Cleverly confirmed that there would be no criminal sanctions for skipping the mandatory service, he failed to provide further details on how the policy would be enforced. When questioned by the BBC about the potential contradiction between forcing adults to volunteer and the Conservative Party’s liberal tradition, Cleverly defended the proposal, citing compulsory education or training for teenagers until the age of 18 as an example of the government’s ability to “force people to do things all the time.”
The proposal has sparked a heated debate, with critics questioning the feasibility and ethics of mandating national service, while supporters argue that it could instill a sense of civic duty and address societal divisions.