Rishi Sunak vows to reintroduce UK national service in first major campaign policy

Rishi Sunak has vowed to introduce mandatory national service for 18-year-olds if he is re-elected, in his first major policy announcement since the start of the election campaign earlier this week.

The move is part of what he said was an effort to provide security and opportunity in “an increasingly uncertain world”.

Sunak plans to require 18-year-olds to work with the armed forces on a 12-month placement or carry out community work, in a bid to reinforce his claim that he is best-placed to increase security in the UK.

“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,” Sunak said. 

National service was abolished in Britain in 1960 but there has been pressure from leading figures in the UK military for young people to be prepared for the possibility of war.

General Sir Patrick Sanders, head of the British army, talked in January about the need for the UK’s “prewar generation” to prepare for the possibility of future conflict, adding that there needed to be a “whole of nation undertaking”.

Downing Street said at the time there was no question of national service being reintroduced, but Sunak’s manifesto pledge on the issue is early evidence of Tory strategists’ promise that the prime minister will set out “bold” ideas to try to seize back the political initiative from Labour.

The Conservative leader said his party’s plans would provide life-changing opportunities for young people and offer them the chance to learn real world skills, either with the military or in civil society. 

Under the measures, individuals would be invited to apply for a 12-month placement in the armed forces or volunteer one weekend each month for a year in their community in a range of settings including social care and emergency services. 

The full-time 12-month placement would be with the armed forces or UK cyber defence where young adults would take part in logistics, cyber security, procurement or civil response operations.

The prime minister said the scheme would cost £2.5bn a year by 2029/2030, adding to existing strains on the public finances. Sunak has also promised to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030.

The Conservatives said £1bn of the national service fund would come from a planned crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion, while a further £1.5bn would come from funding previously allocated to the “UK shared prosperity fund” — a post-Brexit regional aid scheme.

Sunak said the new national service plan would be designed by a Royal Commission and would take effect by the end of the next parliament.

The Labour party said: “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.”

Sunak needs new initiatives to rekindle his sputtering start to the election campaign, following his surprise decision to call a poll on July 4. On Saturday he convened advisers in his parliamentary seat of Richmond, Yorkshire, to discuss next steps but aides denied their campaign was being “reset”.

They said that these types of meetings were par for the course. Sunak was out on the campaign trail earlier in the day and then travelled to London to meet local party activists in Wimbledon. 

Speaking to a group of veterans in Yorkshire, Sunak said that the world was “more dangerous and challenging than it has been in decades”.

“There’s China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. These things aren’t just happening far away, they impact us here at home,” he said. 

Only 10 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds back year-long compulsory military service, according to pollster YouGov. This compares with 46 per cent of those aged 65 and above, who would be unaffected by the measures but are a core Conservative demographic. 

Voluntary community service of around a month in length is supported by around 72 per cent of British adults. YouGov polling has found that only 8 per cent of voters aged 18-24 support the Conservatives.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on Saturday pledged to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote if Labour wins the general election. The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1969.

“If you can work, if you can pay tax, if you can serve in your armed forces, then you ought to be able to vote,” the Labour leader said on a campaign visit in the West Midlands. There are more than 1.5mn 16 and 17-year-olds in Britain.

Rachel Reeves, shadow chancellor, will on Sunday promote her party’s core message that “stability is change” — claiming that Labour will offer respite to ordinary voters and businesses after years of economic and political turmoil.

The Liberal Democrats plan to unveil their election battle bus in a Tory marginal seat in East Anglia on Sunday, where party leader Ed Davey will pledge to fix “crumbling hospitals” rendered unsafe by bubbly concrete.