“BANKRUPT OF IDEAS”: UK’S SUNAK PROMISES MANDATORY NATIONAL SERVICE FOR 18-YEAR-OLDS IF ELECTED

Sun 26 May 2024:

Britain’s Conservative Party, if victorious in the national election on July 4, plans to implement mandatory national service for 18-year-olds, encompassing military or community service, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Sunday.

Sunak stated that young adults could either volunteer one weekend a month for a year or join 30,000 available slots for a year in the armed forces.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his Conservative Party, which is trailing the opposition in opinion polls, would introduce mandatory national service for 18-year-olds if it wins the national election on July 4. pic.twitter.com/M2wtgBF3El

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) May 26, 2024

This announcement came after Labour Party leader Keir Starmer expressed support for allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote.

The Conservatives are trailing Labour significantly in opinion polls, which have remained unchanged since Sunak’s unexpected election call last Wednesday.

“Britain today faces a future that is more dangerous and more divided. There’s no doubt 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 said in a statement.

Sunak emphasized the need for national service, citing increased dangers and divisions in Britain and threats to democratic values.

The U.K. introduced military conscription for men and some women during World War II, and imposed 18 months of mandatory military service for men between 1947 and 1960. Since then Britain has had an all-volunteer military whose size has steadily shrunk.

Under the plan, a small minority of 18-year-olds — 30,000 out of an estimated 700,000 — would spend 12 months in the military, working in areas such as logistics or cyber defense. The rest would spend one weekend a month working for charities, community groups, or organizations such as hospitals, the police and the fire service.

The Conservative Party proposes funding this initiative by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion and reallocating money from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, aimed at reducing regional economic disparities.

Interior Minister James Cleverly told broadcasters that there would be no criminal penalties for avoiding mandatory service but that participation would be enforced, though he did not provide further details.

Asked by the BBC if forcing adults to volunteer was at odds with the Conservative Party’s liberal tradition, Cleverly said: “We force people to do things all the time.”

He cited compulsory education or training for teenagers until the age of 18 as an example.

On Sunday, Cleverly also said, that the main goal of the new plan was not boosting the military but building “a society where people mix with people outside their own communities, mix with people from different backgrounds, different religions, different income levels.”

The Conservatives estimated the cost of the national service plan at 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) a year. They said it would be paid for partly by taking 1.5 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) from the U.K. Shared Prosperity Fund, which was set up in 2022 to regenerate poor communities.

Labour said the national service announcement was a “desperate 2.5 billion pound unfunded commitment” from a party “bankrupt of ideas.”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22