Well, Rishi Sunak’s new flagship policy of reintroducing national service has certainly gone off with a bang this morning. The policy, announced last night, would see 18-year-olds given the option of applying for a military post, or spending one weekend every month for a year working for the fire services, police, the NHS, or local charities. According to the Conservative party the scheme will be mandatory.
What happens though if young people refuse to take part? It seemed initially at least the Tories were feeling bullish about cracking down on any absconding youths, with a leaked internal Q&A from the Conservatives suggesting that the party wasn’t ruling out arresting 18-year-olds dodging their civic duty.
Home Secretary James Cleverly dampened down those suggestions though when he appeared on Sky News this morning. Asked what will happen to young people who refuse to take part, Cleverly confirmed that there would be ‘no criminal sanctions’, with ‘no one going to jail over this’. He went on to argue that in Scandinavia there had been widespread take-up for similar schemes, but ‘we are going to compel people to do it’.
Mr S has to wonder though how young people will be compelled to do mandatory ‘voluntary’ service if there’s no legal requirement to do so. Perhaps the first job of this new batch of army recruits will be hunting down anyone who is AWOL?
Watch here:
"No one's going to jail over this."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 26, 2024
Home Secretary @JamesCleverly says the Tories' mandatory National Service plans are "about building a network across society" and also confirms volunteering won't be paid.#TrevorPhillips https://t.co/fhIHlpTGAF
📺 Sky 501 / YouTube pic.twitter.com/8JnJ3YedN4
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