The UK Conservative Party has proposed a national service scheme that would require 18-year-olds to take part in either military or non-military service. The party’s officials have said participating in the scheme could enable young people to get better work or study opportunities, potentially resulting in accelerated interviewing processes for graduate programmes in either the civil service or private sectors. Additional incentives tabled by the Conservatives included highlighting the national service engagement on UCAS university applications and encouraging employers to deem participants favourably in job applications.
However, opposition parties have expressed scepticism about the scheme, describing it as a “gimmick”. Former RAF officer and Northern Ireland Minister, Steve Baker, criticised the initiative as having only been conceived by “a political adviser or advisers and sprung on candidates, some of whom are relevant ministers”.
The original national service, requiring young men between the ages of 17 and 21 to serve in the armed forces for 18 months, ran from 1947 to 1960. The Conservatives propose that a new royal commission will explore how the previous scheme operated and will determine how the new scheme will work. The party has pledged to offer approximately 30,000 places on the scheme.
Former defence minister, Andrew Murrison, who is part of the Conservative Party, told MPs on behalf of the party that it had no plans to reinstate “any form of national service” only a day after the election was called. However, Tory Party leader and Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said research in Israel and Norway demonstrated the benefits of national service programmes. Critics of the proposed scheme such as Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, described it as a “plan for a teenage Dad’s Army” and “a sign of desperation
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