Rishi Sunak’s plan for 18-year-olds would create a renewed sense of pride in the UK, he said, as the prime minister faces internal and external political pressures.
Rishi Sunak has vowed to bring back national service for 18-year-olds to create a “renewed sense of pride in our country” in his first major policy announcement of the election campaign.
Earlier this year, the head of the British Army said the UK should train a “citizen army” ready to fight a war on land in the future.The £2.5 billion national service scheme will see school leavers apply for a year-long placement in the Armed Forces or the UK’s cyber defences where they will gain experience in logistics, cybersecurity, procurement and civil response operations such as flood defences.
National service officially ended in Britain in 1960, although periods of deferred service still had to be completed. The last national servicemen were discharged in 1963. Sunak pledged that a future Conservative government would set up a royal commission to design the national service programme, with a pilot scheme opening for applications in September 2025 ahead of a national rollout by 2029.He highlighted the threat from Russia and pointed to steps being taken by other European nations to put their populations on a “war footing”.
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