"I will bring in a new model of national service"
If the Conservative Party wins the General Election, 12 months of mandatory national service would be reintroduced.
Eighteen-year-olds would be able to apply for one of 30,000 full-time military placements or volunteer one weekend a month carrying out community service.
Rishi Sunak believed that bringing back compulsory national service across the UK would help foster the “national spirit” that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Labour criticised the plans, calling them “desperate” and “unfunded”.
The Tories want the first teenagers to take part in a pilot from September 2025.
The armed forces placements would allow young people to learn about cyber security, logistics, procurement or civil response operations.
Non-military volunteering would involve 25 days with organisations such as the fire service, the police and the NHS.
Mr Sunak said: “This is a great country but generations of young people have not had the opportunities or experience they deserve and there are forces trying to divide our society in this increasingly uncertain world.
“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.”
The PM said the move would help young people learn “real-world skills, do new things and contribute to their community and our country”.
According to the Tories, the move would help ensure young people who were unemployed, in education or training, or at risk of getting involved with crime, would diverted away from “lives of unemployment and crime”.
The party did not reveal what sanctions those not taking part could face.
Instead, they argued national service would provide “valuable work experience” and “ignite a passion for a future career in healthcare, public service, charity or the armed forces”.
The Tories said the £2.5 billion cost of national service would see £1.5 billion diverted from the UK’s Shared Prosperity Fund from 2028.
A further £1 billion would come from plans to crack down on tax avoidance and evasion.
Labour said: “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.”
Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson Richard Foord MP accused the Tories of cutting troop numbers.
Mr Foord said: “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.
“Our armed forces were once the envy of the world.
“This Conservative government has cut troop numbers and is planning more cuts to the size of the Army.”
National service was introduced in 1947 after World War Two by Clement Attlee’s Labour government.
It meant men between the ages of 17 and 21 had to serve in the armed forces for 18 months.
The mandatory national service scheme came to an end in 1960.
Cuts in the British Army have seen its size fall from more than 100,000 in 2010 to around 73,000 as of January 2024.
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