In the first major policy announcement of his election campaign, Rishi Sunak pledged to introduce a form of compulsory national service under which 18-year-olds would join the army for 12 months or volunteer during weekends.
Young people aged 18 will have to carry out compulsory national service if the Conservative Party is returned to power in the July 4 elections in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced.
The United Kingdom counts “generations of young people who have not had the opportunities they deserve”and this measure would help unite society in a “increasingly uncertain world” and to give young people a “common sense of purpose”Mr Sunak said on Saturday.
The Prime Minister’s plan would give young people the choice between a full-time assignment in the armed forces for 12 months or one weekend per month for a year to volunteer within their community, the party said.
This announcement comes as the conservatives are preparing for the elections, intensifying their attacks on the opposition Labor Party.
“There will be no criminal sanctions”
The military option would be selectivebut questions have been raised about whether a teenager who refuses either of these options would be punished.
On the show Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips broadcast on Sky NewsHome Secretary James Cleverly said: “There will be no criminal sanctions, no one will go to prison for this.”
He added that “no one will be forced to do the military element”, but that those who do so will be paid, while those who choose to volunteer will not be paid.
Mr Cleverly said the main aim of the policy was to ensure that “people mix with people outside their bubble” to ensure the “community cohesion”.
The Conservatives declared that national service scheme would cost £2.5 billion a year and would be funded by funds previously used for the UK’s Shared Prosperity Fund and the crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion.
Large advantage for Labor
The latest YouGov/Times poll on voting intentions – the first carried out after Rishi Sunak called the general election – gives the Conservatives has 22% (+1 compared to the previous survey of May 21-22) while the Labor are at 44% (-2). Elsewhere, the ultra-conservative Reform UK is at 14% (+2), the Lib Dems are at 9% (no change) and the Greens are at 6% (-1).
According to Statista, 48% of British adults would vote for Labour Party during the next general elections, scheduled for July 4, 2024, against 18% who would vote for Conservative party.
The ruling Conservatives trailed Labor in the polls throughout 2022 and 2023, with a considerable gap emerging in September 2022 when Liz Truss came to power.
Liz Truss’s short tenure as Prime Minister was widely seen as a disaster for the country and her party, and Rishi Sunak succeeded her as Prime Minister in October that year.
Labor has maintained its lead in the polls since Sunak became Prime Minister, and is expected to win the next general election if the most recent polls are to be believed.