Young Britons like me have already done our fair share of national service. For two gruelling years, we sacrificed the best years of our lives to protect the elderly from Covid, dutifully abiding by each arbitrary restriction on our freedoms. Parties were cancelled, concerts were postponed, and evenings were spent alone, all in the name of national solidarity. Like most of my peers, my memories of university life will forever be tarnished by lockdowns, social distancing, and Zoom lectures.
Even now Covid is over we still face sky-high house prices, crippling student debt, and a historically high tax burden, which squeezes working-age people in order to fund the ever-increasing cost of social care and the state pension. For our troubles, we are rewarded with endless columns from ageing commentators about how we are all lazy, petulant snowflakes. Our institutions preach about the inherent sinfulness of Britain and its past, while our politicians fail to rescue us from our impending national decline.
If we want young people to step up and take responsibility, we must also make sure that Britain is a country in which they can prosper and put down roots
Last night, the Conservatives announced that if elected they will seek to reintroduce national service for 18-year-olds. Young people will either be able to apply for the armed forces or give up one weekend a month to work for the fire service, NHS or other public services.
The words ‘national service’ may evoke nostalgia about the ‘good old days’ for some. When it was last in place, from 1947 until 1960, we are told it gave young people discipline, and helped to bring the country together by forcing people of different backgrounds to meet and mix.
But in reality these new plans would only serve to build resentment amongst a generation of younger people who feel that they have been consistently let down by their government. Unlike the disciplined, regimented military obligation of the 1950s, this modern iteration of national service would look more like a glorified National Citizen Service, with conscripts deployed to support municipal busywork or plug gaps in our ailing social care system.
As a country, we have given young people little to be proud of. Is it any wonder that my generation isn’t racing down to the recruitment centre?
The idea that our country’s decline in social cohesion can be fixed by forcing young people into a year of meaningless work is ludicrous. For decades, the British state has proven exceptionally ineffectual at building social cohesion, with a storied legacy of cringeworthy ‘hug a hoodie’ style initiatives. This policy is just the latest madcap idea from a political class which is increasingly out of touch.
As Edmund Burke understood so well, society is predicated upon an intergenerational contract, which balances rights and responsibilities at different life stages. If we want young people to step up and take responsibility, we must also make sure that Britain is a country in which they can prosper and put down roots. Give working-age people homeownership, support to start a family, and a safe, clean public realm, and you’ll also be giving them something to fight for.
It is these conditions, not Whitehall bureaucracy, which creates the kind of vibrant civil society that has social cohesion and intergenerational harmony. Working-age people are far less likely to be resentful of granny if they are able to properly enjoy the fruits of their labour. Instead of trying to instil patriotism through sharp-tongued sergeant majors, the Conservatives should be trying to turn Britain into a country that young people can genuinely be proud of.
Of course, we shouldn’t ignore the cynical electoral politics in all of this. The idea of instating some form of national service is popular, particularly amongst the older, Reform-leaning voters that Sunak is desperately attempting to court. Still, as early polls show that the Conservative party is less popular amongst voters under-40 than the Greens, it’s high time that it showed some love to the younger voters who have abandoned the party in droves. Voters are for life, not just for the general election, and there’s no time like the present to start rebuilding the Conservative coalition around the kind of young, ambitious professionals who once propelled Thatcher into government.
Instead of subjecting Britain’s young to state-sanctioned litter-picking and lectures on ‘British Values’ from moustachioed drill sergeants, Sunak should be working to address our unsustainable intergenerational imbalance. As long as the British state continues to punish young people in this country, young people will continue to be apathetic towards the British state – and deservedly so.
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