UK’s Sunak promises mandatory national service for 18-year-olds if elected
Al Jazeera
Ruling Conservative Party says it will bring back national service if it wins the July 4 general election.
Eighteen-year-olds will have to perform a mandatory national service if the Conservative Party is voted back to power in the United Kingdom’s July 4 election, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced.
The UK has “generations of young people who have not had the opportunities they deserve”, and this measure would help unite society in an “increasingly uncertain world”, Sunak said on Saturday.
The prime minister’s plan would entail young people being given a choice between a full-time placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spending one weekend a month for a year volunteering in their community, the party said.
The announcement came as Conservatives gear up for elections, heightening its attacks on the opposition Labour Party.
