Sunak pledges to reinstate mandatory military service if re‑elected

Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced that if his Conservative Party wins the House of Commons election, which will take place on July 4th at 5:00 AM Greenwich Time, he intends to reinstate mandatory military service for individuals who turn 18. However, he added that replacing this service with volunteering will be possible.

According to the proposed plan, young people aged 18 would have three options. The first option is full-time military service lasting 12 months. The second option is a year of service in British cyber defence, where young people would have the opportunity to gain knowledge about logistics, cybersecurity, supply, or civil response operations. The third option is volunteering, which would involve one weekend per month for a year, totalling 25 days. Volunteering could be done in the police, fire department, healthcare, or charitable organisations, helping older people and those in need.

A newly appointed Royal Commission, an advisory committee to investigate significant issues, would establish the detailed plan. The Conservative Party assumes that the first group of 18-year-olds will be called to serve in September 2025. The cost of implementing such a solution is around £2.5 billion annually.

Prime Minister Sunak is convinced that the new service will provide young people with opportunities that can change their lives. He believes it will allow them to learn fundamental skills, discover new things, and contribute to developing their communities and country. In response to criticism that introducing mandatory service is unreasonable, he stated: "I say: citizenship brings with it obligations as well as rights. Being British is about more than just the queue you join at passport control" - he wrote in "The Mail on Sunday".

Additionally, Sunak expressed the belief that reinstating mandatory military service will help strengthen the "national spirit" that emerged during the pandemic. - This is a great country, but generations of young people have not had the opportunities or experience they deserve, and there are forces trying to divide our society in this increasingly uncertain world - he explained.

The Conservative Party argues that such a move will help ensure that unemployed young people, not in education or training, and those coming from backgrounds disproportionately represented in criminal matters will be steered away from "lives of unemployment and crime".

Mandatory military service during peacetime was introduced in the UK after World War II by the Labour government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee. From January 1949, all physically fit men aged 17 to 21 had to serve in the armed forces for a period of 18 months, with the period extended in 1950 to two years. Mandatory military service was abolished in 1960.