Conservative leader and British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunaksaid this Sunday that, if he wins the elections, he will impose a Mandatory National Service for 18-year-oldswho will be able to choose between spending a year in the Armed Forces or volunteering in the community.

The military option will require pass entrance tests before carrying out a training period either in the Armed Forces or in cyber defense, “where they will participate in logistics, cybersecurity, supply acquisition or civil response operations,” a statement indicates.

The other alternative will be volunteer the equivalent of one weekend a month (25 days a year) in the community, with organizations such as the fire brigade, Police and the National Health Service (NHS), as well as charities such as those that combat loneliness or support older people.

The Conservative Party promises to form a Royal Commissionmade up of military and civil society experts, to design that National Service program, which would be operational in September 2025, after which a law would be introduced to make it mandatory.

According to the note, when it is launched, the program will cost 2.5 billion pounds (2,930 million euros) per year by 2029-30, which a future ‘Tory’ Government would obtain from combating tax evasion and from the United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), introduced after Brexit to compensate for the loss of aid from the European Union.

To prevent young people from “wasting their best years”

The Tories believe that “National Service will provide valuable work experience to young people and may spark your passion for a future career in healthcare, public service, charity or the Armed Forces,” the statement said. The note argues that the UK needs to regain a civic spirit and sense of duty towards the nation, in the face of an “increasingly uncertain” world.

We must also prevent young people “waste their best years without work or in lives of crime“. Other European countries are taking similar measures to strengthen their civic resilience and defense, including Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Francethe statement says.

“I will introduce a new model of National Service to create a sense of common purpose among our young people and a renewed sense of pride in our country,” said Sunak, who came to power on October 25, 2022 without voting.

“This new mandatory National Service will offer life-changing opportunities for our young people, giving them the option of learn real world skillsdo new things and contribute to their community and the country,” he added.

A spokesman for the Labor Party, first from the opposition and favorite to win the 4th of july electionssaid that “this is not a new plan, but a review that could cost billions and that it is only necessary because the conservatives reduced the Armed Forces to their smallest size since Napoleon.”

The liberal democrats, the third force at the national level, also accused the ‘tories’, in power for 14 years, of cut the number of troops in the Armed Forces professionals.