Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
This is a Winchester thing. You had the choice there on Wednesday afternoon of cadet corps (playing soldiers) or alternative service activities (mowing old ladies' lawns). Again it's the head boy thing, affirming the value of this stuff got him praise and promotion from the grown ups. I can't remember a sillier policy more ineptly introduced.
- 12 month placement in armed forces - 12 weekends of community service
Why would anyone choose the former unless they want to be in the army? And what stops people from sacking off the latter if they don't feel like it or have an actual weekend job alongside university education, or a full time job that includes weekends, like many people do in the real world?
Possibly the most stupid policy I've heard in this electoral cycle so far.
Great point. Young people in jobs like retail must work weekends, even if they work full-time rather than just with college or uni. The volunteering option won't be open to them.
It's only the rich who will be able to afford to avoid the army and enjoy an education at the same time.
One big consequence of Rishi's national service declaration might be it helps Labour squeeze voters who were considering voting for the Greens. If I was Thangam Debbonaire I'd be pretty pleased by this announcement.
People mocking the idea of national service have no concept of the strategic position we find ourselves in, so they? There’s a reason most of Europe is considering versions of this.
We’ve got fat and lazy, and lost the courage of our convictions, and the understanding that they sometimes must be fought for.
Exactly, in a lot of countries in the EU they are looking at conscription.
People mocking the idea of national service have no concept of the strategic position we find ourselves in, so they? There’s a reason most of Europe is considering versions of this.
We’ve got fat and lazy, and lost the courage of our convictions, and the understanding that they sometimes must be fought for.
Ukraine's minimum age for conscription is 25. Rishi's plan is for 18 year olds. Having our armed forces looking after 18 year olds doing 1 year of service is not going to make them better.
If he was clever he’d suggest extending it to 16 year olds. If they’re old enough to vote…
Hold the phone on the snarky tweets: the Conservatives’ new policy is designed to be a landgrab for Reform voters and the polling suggests it strongly appeals to them
But the problem with trying to grab votes from a party most voters think is bananas is that you associate yourself with the bananas party and the voters who don’t like the bananas party notice this.
Man of the People Richi, chatting to his mates in the local spoons this morning before (checks notes) climbing into his millionaire mate's helicopter for a lift back to London...
Yep, nothing to see here. Move on, lads.
I've been plenty brutal on Rishi, yet you seem to assume any dissenting voices on these issues must be trying to bolster him somehow. That is plainly not the case.
Your premise seems to be that a politician doing anything that is not 'man of the people' like will be toxic with the public.
Now, Rishi is very unpopular so people will judge him harshly for a lot of things they might not with someone more popular. But I think you do the public a disservice on this one. He also has bodyguards and people drive him about, is that also toxic with the public as it is not very man of the people?
He should have got the national express coach back to London. Now thats man of the people.
There's a semi-interesting quasi-connection between Rishi Sunak's campaign launch, and my own experience with National Express.
Because the last time I rode on a NE coach, from Golders Green bus terminal to STN during a rain storm, my luggage was thoughtfully place underneath a leak and was totally soaked when I arrived at the airport.
On the National Express, there's a jolly hostess selling crisps and tea. She'll provide you with drinks and theatrical winks for a sky-high fee
But it's hard to survive, when your arse is the size, of a small countr-eeee
Get by I think is it not?
Damn yes you are right! It appears to be a genuine mondegreen
National Service inclusive of non military options is one of those things that can be made to sound ok - give opportunities, provide direction etc - but dictating what people should be doing seems likely to be hugely unpopular.
It does highlight that we have a big problem down the road with lack of volunteers, but conscripting people to do the things volunteers do does not strike me as a workable solution.
It's obviously a stupid idea. The state has no business telling adults what to do with their time.
If we need volunteers then conscript older people into this thing, they have the time for it.
"conscript volunteers"
If you're very unlucky, you might get conscripted to volunteer as a Conservative election candidate.
But, leaving aside the F. F. S. ness of the proposal, it implies that someone looked at the 2017 campaign and thought "chucking a new policy out with zero consulation is a brilliant plan".
"Levido: Well, we do have a small chance that quite a lot of young people might forsake Labour for the Greens. We just need to be careful not to give them a reason to go back to Starmer. Sunak: …."
I'm assuming there'd be exemptions for well to do folks. Can't be having little Lord Fontleroy mucking about with spods from the local housing estate in the army or ferrying meals about to elderly people in the community.
- 12 month placement in armed forces - 12 weekends of community service
Why would anyone choose the former unless they want to be in the army? And what stops people from sacking off the latter if they don't feel like it or have an actual weekend job alongside university education, or a full time job that includes weekends, like many people do in the real world?
Possibly the most stupid policy I've heard in this electoral cycle so far.
You get paid for one and not the other?
If you want to get paid to work for the armed forces there is an existing job opportunity called joining the armed forces. They even show adverts on TV for it.
If not, why the fuck would you waste a year of your youth and alternative career progression being an underpaid intern within the army, when the alternative is giving up some part of one weekend a month?
I'd support the policy so long as retirees also need to volunteer alongside 18 year olds every day of the week they are not working. For the country, you understand.
Compulsory national service is not popular with any age group apart from the over-65s. Is it possible for the Conservative vote with under 25s to go any lower?
The last people to experience compulsory National Service in the UK are now 85, so most of those over-65s with whome this is allegedly popular avoided it themselves.
In fact, it'll probably have the opposite effect, making the idea toxic for a decade at least.
We haven't got a decade. If people haven't already grasped that we are going to need a much larger armed forces and to spend a lot more on defence they must be asleep.
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
No it isn't. It could well be quite popular with about 40% of voters.
I'm assuming there'd be exemptions for well to do folks. Can't be having little Lord Fontleroy mucking about with spods from the local housing estate in the army or ferrying meals about to elderly people in the community.
- 12 month placement in armed forces - 12 weekends of community service
Why would anyone choose the former unless they want to be in the army? And what stops people from sacking off the latter if they don't feel like it or have an actual weekend job alongside university education, or a full time job that includes weekends, like many people do in the real world?
Possibly the most stupid policy I've heard in this electoral cycle so far.
You get paid for one and not the other?
If you want to get paid to work for the armed forces there is an existing job opportunity called joining the armed forces. They even show adverts on TV for it.
If not, why the fuck would you waste a year of your youth and alternative career progression being an underpaid intern within the army, when the alternative is giving up some part of one weekend a month?
I'd support the policy so long as retirees also need to volunteer alongside 18 year olds every day of the week they are not working. For the country, you understand.
Most retirees can afford to volunteer. For many young people, this means forgoing a weekend job. The kind of job that means that they can get through uni/college.
I worked two days a week all the way through my degree. Only way I could afford it.
- 12 month placement in armed forces - 12 weekends of community service
Why would anyone choose the former unless they want to be in the army? And what stops people from sacking off the latter if they don't feel like it or have an actual weekend job alongside university education, or a full time job that includes weekends, like many people do in the real world?
Possibly the most stupid policy I've heard in this electoral cycle so far.
Almost everyone in that age group will have a weekend job at the very least. Even Rishi did - we keep being told about him working as a waiter!
Is the plan to pay people for this community service?
There are about 720,000 18 year olds in the UK, and we're told that 30,000 of them will be in full time military roles. That leaves 690,000 who'll be expected to do 12 weekends. So, about £4bn in wages alone?
And who's going to replace the lost labour? That's about 200,000 extra immigrants needed to compensate, isn't it?
In fact, it'll probably have the opposite effect, making the idea toxic for a decade at least.
We haven't got a decade. If people haven't already grasped that we are going to need a much larger armed forces and to spend a lot more on defence they must be asleep.
People might have grasped that idea.
What they won't have contemplated is actually doing anything even mildly unpalatable to address it.
Wine which improves with keeping is way above almost anyone's pay grade and is not called names like Redbeard. Otoh genuinely undrinkable wine is almost unheard of these days. Drink it is my advice.
I don't think that entirely true. Even average Rhone wines benefit from a year or two in the bottle to soften the tannins.
That said, a free bonus bottle is unlikely to benefit greatly, so drink up. Or save it for cooking.
@LOS_Fisher Rishi Sunak's pledge to introduce national service is eye-catching, but I suspect the option of a 12-month armed forces placement won't be embraced by large quarters of the UK military/MoD.
Last summer I asked Andrew Murrison, minister for defence people, his views on obligatory military service or widening voluntary schemes like the gap year commission.
He made the important point: 'There's a cost – and that is training people up, looking after them, managing them, and then they disappear as they're becoming vaguely useful.'
James Johnson @jamesjohnson252 Hold the phone on the snarky tweets: the Conservatives’ new policy is designed to be a landgrab for Reform voters and the polling suggests it strongly appeals to them
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
No it isn't. It could well be quite popular with about 40% of voters.
Why 40%?
I'd call it a very niche idea, and springing it on people like this a poor way to sell even a well thought out proposal, meaning even some people who might like idea in principle won't be on board.
People mocking the idea of national service have no concept of the strategic position we find ourselves in, so they? There’s a reason most of Europe is considering versions of this.
We’ve got fat and lazy, and lost the courage of our convictions, and the understanding that they sometimes must be fought for.
Ukraine's minimum age for conscription is 25. Rishi's plan is for 18 year olds. Having our armed forces looking after 18 year olds doing 1 year of service is not going to make them better.
That’s has much to do with Ukraine’s acute demographic problems.
The £2.5 billion National Service scheme will see school leavers apply for a year-long placement in the Armed Forces or the UK’s cyber defences where they will gain experience in logistics, cyber security, procurement and civil response operations such as flood defences.
The placements, which are open to 30,000 youngsters, will involve residential stays at army barracks or other military facilities around the country.
The volunteering route will see 18-year-olds spend one weekend each month working in the fire services, police, the NHS as well as local charities tackling loneliness and supporting older, isolated people.
Telegraph
The details here don't match the tweet, which said it would be compulsory.
Under the mandatory scheme, school leavers will have to either enrol on a 12-month military placement or spend one weekend each month volunteering in their community.
Sunak has a bit of an authoritarian streak, see smoking ban and now compulsory national service.
Again, head boy syndrome. Schools are authoritarian, pupils are victims, prefects are trusties/kapos and will get to continue to be head boy if they push the grown ups agenda obsequiously enough.
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
No it isn't. It could well be quite popular with about 40% of voters.
Why 40%?
I'd call it a very niche idea, and springing it on people like this a poor way to sell even a well thought out proposal, meaning even some people who might like idea in principle won't be on board.
Popular with maybe 10% of voters. It is Core Vote time.
@LOS_Fisher Rishi Sunak's pledge to introduce national service is eye-catching, but I suspect the option of a 12-month armed forces placement won't be embraced by large quarters of the UK military/MoD.
Last summer I asked Andrew Murrison, minister for defence people, his views on obligatory military service or widening voluntary schemes like the gap year commission.
He made the important point: 'There's a cost – and that is training people up, looking after them, managing them, and then they disappear as they're becoming vaguely useful.'
He's my MP, and he's a loyalist, so I expect him to go silent on the matter.
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
There is also the option of community service, rather like my public school had the option of CCF in the army, navy or RAF or conservation or visiting the elderly
Yougov found 34% of voters back a year's compulsory military or community service which is actually more than the current Tory poll rating. Indeed 50% of 2019 Conservative voters back such compulsory national service to 44% opposed, 54% of Leave voters back it too
James Johnson @jamesjohnson252 Hold the phone on the snarky tweets: the Conservatives’ new policy is designed to be a landgrab for Reform voters and the polling suggests it strongly appeals to them
He’s already forcing them to do maths till they’re 18, and now proposing they got to spend 12 weekends a year wiping the shitty arses of boomers at the end of it.
James Johnson @jamesjohnson252 Hold the phone on the snarky tweets: the Conservatives’ new policy is designed to be a landgrab for Reform voters and the polling suggests it strongly appeals to them
- 12 month placement in armed forces - 12 weekends of community service
Why would anyone choose the former unless they want to be in the army? And what stops people from sacking off the latter if they don't feel like it or have an actual weekend job alongside university education, or a full time job that includes weekends, like many people do in the real world?
Possibly the most stupid policy I've heard in this electoral cycle so far.
How on earth do you enforce it? Someone volunteering at a charity shop fails to turn up - do they call the police? I think a push for a citizenship scheme where you get rewarded would be far better than this. .
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
There is also the option of community service, rather like my public school had the option of CCF in the army, navy or RAF or conservation or visiting the elderly
Shit.
No? You don’t think this is…this is their solution to social care?
@mattholehouse The imv very signif bit: its funded by closing the Shared Prosperity Fund, which was the UK replacement for EU structural funds, in 2028 after only six years. UKSPF is a "central pillar" of "levelling up" (source: HMG).
UKSPF was also an element of the 2019 manifesto.. and retaining like-for-like EU funding was a key Vote Leave commitment.
Observation: option to shutter the UKSPF in favour of national service is an interesting glimpse into the party's thinking as to whether its core vote (and with it the 2019 coalition) is motivated by cultural or economic concerns.
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
There is also the option of community service, rather like my public school had the option of CCF in the army, navy or RAF or conservation or visiting the elderly
Yougov found 34% of voters back a year's compulsory military or community service which is actually more than the current Tory poll rating. Indeed 50% of 2019 Conservative voters back such compulsory national service to 44% opposed, 54% of Leave voters back it too
People support or don't support policies based in part on who proposed them. So it is pretty safe to assume it will be less than 34% who say they support this when polled about it. And even if they do, it doesn't follow they will support this precise form of compulsory service.
Despite wanting the Tories out I don't want them annilhilated, this is a depressing move in that respect.
I get wanting to claw back from Reform, but this was the solution?!
The £2.5 billion National Service scheme will see school leavers apply for a year-long placement in the Armed Forces or the UK’s cyber defences where they will gain experience in logistics, cyber security, procurement and civil response operations such as flood defences.
The placements, which are open to 30,000 youngsters, will involve residential stays at army barracks or other military facilities around the country.
The volunteering route will see 18-year-olds spend one weekend each month working in the fire services, police, the NHS as well as local charities tackling loneliness and supporting older, isolated people.
Telegraph
The details here don't match the tweet, which said it would be compulsory.
Under the mandatory scheme, school leavers will have to either enrol on a 12-month military placement or spend one weekend each month volunteering in their community.
That's a new definition of the word 'volunteering'.
Of course you could also steal some bottles of wine from your local supermarket and also be 'volunteered' for that service in your community by your local Magistrates Court if you are over school leaving age
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
There is also the option of community service, rather like my public school had the option of CCF in the army, navy or RAF or conservation or visiting the elderly
Yougov found 34% of voters back a year's compulsory military or community service which is actually more than the current Tory poll rating. Indeed 50% of 2019 Conservative voters back such compulsory national service to 44% opposed, 54% of Leave voters back it too
- 12 month placement in armed forces - 12 weekends of community service
Why would anyone choose the former unless they want to be in the army? And what stops people from sacking off the latter if they don't feel like it or have an actual weekend job alongside university education, or a full time job that includes weekends, like many people do in the real world?
Possibly the most stupid policy I've heard in this electoral cycle so far.
How on earth do you enforce it? Someone volunteering at a charity shop fails to turn up - do they call the police? I think a push for a citizenship scheme where you get rewarded would be far better than this. .
That's why the idea is for a review, it'd be something coming down the road years hence presumably to work out any kinks.
In reality people will respond to it as if 18 year olds will be conscripted on 5 July - turnout among the cohort could be higher than usual.
James Johnson @jamesjohnson252 Hold the phone on the snarky tweets: the Conservatives’ new policy is designed to be a landgrab for Reform voters and the polling suggests it strongly appeals to them
Makes sense, because the latest polls are putting Con+Reform on 36%, which is slightly higher than it's been previously. And 36% is roughly what Cameron got in 2010 and 2015.
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
There is also the option of community service, rather like my public school had the option of CCF in the army, navy or RAF or conservation or visiting the elderly
Yougov found 34% of voters back a year's compulsory military or community service which is actually more than the current Tory poll rating. Indeed 50% of 2019 Conservative voters back such compulsory national service to 44% opposed, 54% of Leave voters back it too
How about this as a policy proposal: free university education for those who do national service first.
There is opportunity to do some radical things with university education e.g. work for x years in NHS, every year we pay of y of your student loan...do STEM and stay in the UK, same. Basically work it so that if you stay they are paying off the fees over 5-10 years. You still have to pay off loan for living costs, but basically free fees.
Jim Pickard 🐋 @PickardJE turns out that the National Citizen Service (David Cameron’s pet project) had its funding slashed by two-thirds in a 2022 review of government youth funding - when Rishi Sunak was chancellor
Tom Watson @tom_watson · 34m I’m told the Rishi Sunak is to call for national service. I wonder what young people and their parents will think of that?
How about this as a policy proposal: free university education for those who do national service first.
There is opportunity to do some radical things with university education e.g. work for x years in NHS, every year we pay of y of your student loan...do STEM and stay in the UK, same. Basically work it so that if you stay they are paying off the fees over 5-10 years. You still have to pay off loan for living costs, but basically free fees.
Bridget Phillipson basically implied that was what Labour would do on Question Time a few days ago.
In fact, it'll probably have the opposite effect, making the idea toxic for a decade at least.
We haven't got a decade. If people haven't already grasped that we are going to need a much larger armed forces and to spend a lot more on defence they must be asleep.
Yes, but you need to spend that money on a well-resourced, professional army, not a hail Mary pass to get Reform UK voters back.
The young have done it, we shut our lives down for two years to protect the elderly.
That's not really true. It wasn't two years, and it wasn't just to protect the elderly. Many younger people died from COVID and many more could have done without the first lockdown. A collapse to healthcare was definitely on the cards in march 2020. There is an awful lot of revisionism around now. A poster with a similar name to you spent ages posting 'lockdown now!'
How about this as a policy proposal: free university education for those who do national service first.
There is opportunity to do some radical things with university education e.g. work for x years in NHS, every year we pay of y of your student loan...do STEM and stay in the UK, same. Basically work it so that if you stay they are paying off the fees over 5-10 years. You still have to pay off loan for living costs, but basically free fees.
Bridget Phillipson basically implied that was what Labour would do on Question Time a few days ago.
I never understood when they first changed the student fees why they didn't have such a scheme for doctors, dentists, etc. Its a no brainer, you then give a massive nudge for a dentist not to bugger off into private sector after a couple of years in practice.
I bet it wouldn't even cost that much when you look at the fact these loans never get fully repaid anyway and the fact you paid £100k+ to train a dentist.
The young have done it, we shut our lives down for two years to protect the elderly.
That's not really true. It wasn't two years, and it wasn't just to protect the elderly. Many younger people died from COVID and many more could have done without the first lockdown. A collapse to healthcare was definitely on the cards in march 2020. There is an awful lot of revisionism around now. A poster with a similar name to you spent ages posting 'lockdown now!'
I am shocked to see you supporting this stupid idea. A policy which you'll never have to do and the people who have to do it in years to come, won't be able to vote for it.
We absolutely did lock down to protect the elderly and society - we did our bit. In return we've been shafted. So Rishi can sod off with his stupid ideas, I am genuinely really angry about this idea.
@PickardJE - Rishi Sunak is bound to be asked if tonight’s announcement means he is giving up on levelling-up Britain’s left-behind areas
- given the national service policy would be funded mostly (though not entirely) from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which was previously earmarked for levelling-up
I see the Front page of the Times has an item about a private school in Hampshire closing because of "Labour's VAT raid" (although it mentions that The school has suffered from dwindling pupil numbers in recent years).
The young have done it, we shut our lives down for two years to protect the elderly.
That's not really true. It wasn't two years, and it wasn't just to protect the elderly. Many younger people died from COVID and many more could have done without the first lockdown. A collapse to healthcare was definitely on the cards in march 2020. There is an awful lot of revisionism around now. A poster with a similar name to you spent ages posting 'lockdown now!'
I am shocked to see you supporting this stupid idea. A policy which you'll never have to do and the people who have to do it in years to come, won't be able to vote for it.
We absolutely did lock down to protect the elderly and society - we did our bit. In return we've been shafted. So Rishi can sod off with his stupid ideas, I am genuinely really angry about this idea.
Huh? I'm not supporting the idea? I'm posting about your comments on lockdown. I see you've added in society to your comment.
How about this as a policy proposal: free university education for those who do national service first.
There is opportunity to do some radical things with university education e.g. work for x years in NHS, every year we pay of y of your student loan...do STEM and stay in the UK, same. Basically work it so that if you stay they are paying off the fees over 5-10 years. You still have to pay off loan for living costs, but basically free fees.
Bridget Phillipson basically implied that was what Labour would do on Question Time a few days ago.
I never understood when they first changed the student fees why they didn't have such a scheme for doctors, dentists, etc. Its a no brainer, you then give a massive nudge for a dentist not to bugger off into private sector after a couple of years in practice.
I bet it wouldn't even cost that much when you look at the fact these loans never get fully repaid anyway and the fact you paid £100k+ to train a dentist.
It was genuinely one of the only good UKIP policies there ever was.
Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory national service is the most insane policy proposal ever launched in an election campaign by a major political party.
No it isn't. It could well be quite popular with about 40% of voters.
Where do you get that figure from?
I don't mind the scraggy arsed barsteward from around the corner trying to sire my daughter getting his head shaved and his arse kicked by the BSM, but not my children and grandchildren.
@PickardJE - Rishi Sunak is bound to be asked if tonight’s announcement means he is giving up on levelling-up Britain’s left-behind areas
- given the national service policy would be funded mostly (though not entirely) from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which was previously earmarked for levelling-up
I think we know that ship has well and truly sailed.
He finally killed off the tory bollocks about levelling up when he destroyed the HS2 to the North project on a whim.
The young have done it, we shut our lives down for two years to protect the elderly.
That's not really true. It wasn't two years, and it wasn't just to protect the elderly. Many younger people died from COVID and many more could have done without the first lockdown. A collapse to healthcare was definitely on the cards in march 2020. There is an awful lot of revisionism around now. A poster with a similar name to you spent ages posting 'lockdown now!'
I am shocked to see you supporting this stupid idea. A policy which you'll never have to do and the people who have to do it in years to come, won't be able to vote for it.
We absolutely did lock down to protect the elderly and society - we did our bit. In return we've been shafted. So Rishi can sod off with his stupid ideas, I am genuinely really angry about this idea.
Huh? I'm not supporting the idea? I'm posting about your comments on lockdown.
Then if you're not supporting it, say it's a stupid idea.
We were talking the other day about university funding and making degrees cheaper. One proposal there is an accelerated 2-year degree. And Sunak wants to squeeze in 25 days' "volunteering" on top of that?
How about this as a policy proposal: free university education for those who do national service first.
There is opportunity to do some radical things with university education e.g. work for x years in NHS, every year we pay of y of your student loan...do STEM and stay in the UK, same. Basically work it so that if you stay they are paying off the fees over 5-10 years. You still have to pay off loan for living costs, but basically free fees.
Bridget Phillipson basically implied that was what Labour would do on Question Time a few days ago.
I never understood when they first changed the student fees why they didn't have such a scheme for doctors, dentists, etc. Its a no brainer, you then give a massive nudge for a dentist not to bugger off into private sector after a couple of years in practice.
I bet it wouldn't even cost that much when you look at the fact these loans never get fully repaid anyway and the fact you paid £100k+ to train a dentist.
National Service inclusive of non military options is one of those things that can be made to sound ok - give opportunities, provide direction etc - but dictating what people should be doing seems likely to be hugely unpopular.
It does highlight that we have a big problem down the road with lack of volunteers, but conscripting people to do the things volunteers do does not strike me as a workable solution.
It's obviously a stupid idea. The state has no business telling adults what to do with their time.
What are they going to do when people don't turn up?
He’s already forcing them to do maths till they’re 18, and now proposing they got to spend 12 weekends a year wiping the shitty arses of boomers at the end of it.
The young have done it, we shut our lives down for two years to protect the elderly.
That's not really true. It wasn't two years, and it wasn't just to protect the elderly. Many younger people died from COVID and many more could have done without the first lockdown. A collapse to healthcare was definitely on the cards in march 2020. There is an awful lot of revisionism around now. A poster with a similar name to you spent ages posting 'lockdown now!'
I am shocked to see you supporting this stupid idea. A policy which you'll never have to do and the people who have to do it in years to come, won't be able to vote for it.
We absolutely did lock down to protect the elderly and society - we did our bit. In return we've been shafted. So Rishi can sod off with his stupid ideas, I am genuinely really angry about this idea.
Huh? I'm not supporting the idea? I'm posting about your comments on lockdown.
Then if you're not supporting it, say it's a stupid idea.
There are lots of discussion of money wasted COVID, huge wastage in use of levelling up funds. I found out the other week where a not insignificant amount went and I was shocked. I can't tell you what exactly it was used for, but lets put it this way it wasn't bringing life back to Stoke town centre.
Comments
It's only the rich who will be able to afford to avoid the army and enjoy an education at the same time.
I am thinking back to The Thick of It, with the Tory boy trying to impress the Steve Hilton on the whiteboard with this great policy ideas.
Hold the phone on the snarky tweets: the Conservatives’ new policy is designed to be a landgrab for Reform voters and the polling suggests it strongly appeals to them
@alexmassie
But the problem with trying to grab votes from a party most voters think is bananas is that you associate yourself with the bananas party and the voters who don’t like the bananas party notice this.
But, leaving aside the F. F. S. ness of the proposal, it implies that someone looked at the 2017 campaign and thought "chucking a new policy out with zero consulation is a brilliant plan".
Has he sold Conservative MPs on the spreads?
"Levido: Well, we do have a small chance that quite a lot of young people might forsake Labour for the Greens. We just need to be careful not to give them a reason to go back to Starmer.
Sunak: …."
If not, why the fuck would you waste a year of your youth and alternative career progression being an underpaid intern within the army, when the alternative is giving up some part of one weekend a month?
I'd support the policy so long as retirees also need to volunteer alongside 18 year olds every day of the week they are not working. For the country, you understand.
Although if they can't organise an election announcement, I am not entirely convinced they can shoehorn 3,000,000 into 100 marginal seats.
It's not 1 April is it?
I think CON could be on for 0 seats now total meltdown
👿👿👿👿👿
https://x.com/kateferguson4/status/1794480796125774328
Keir Starmer has been wrapping himself in the Union Jack flag.
But Labour come out against Rishi Sunak’s plan for compulsory National Service in the military or for charity 🇬🇧
They offered Keir a trap, he refused to walk into it.
I worked two days a week all the way through my degree. Only way I could afford it.
(The beer that is).
Is the plan to pay people for this community service?
There are about 720,000 18 year olds in the UK, and we're told that 30,000 of them will be in full time military roles. That leaves 690,000 who'll be expected to do 12 weekends. So, about £4bn in wages alone?
And who's going to replace the lost labour? That's about 200,000 extra immigrants needed to compensate, isn't it?
What they won't have contemplated is actually doing anything even mildly unpalatable to address it.
"Value for money"?
Rishi Sunak's pledge to introduce national service is eye-catching, but I suspect the option of a 12-month armed forces placement won't be embraced by large quarters of the UK military/MoD.
Last summer I asked Andrew Murrison, minister for defence people, his views on obligatory military service or widening voluntary schemes like the gap year commission.
He made the important point: 'There's a cost – and that is training people up, looking after them, managing them, and then they disappear as they're becoming vaguely useful.'
James Johnson
@jamesjohnson252
Hold the phone on the snarky tweets: the Conservatives’ new policy is designed to be a landgrab for Reform voters and the polling suggests it strongly appeals to them
https://x.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1794478714895688057
I'd call it a very niche idea, and springing it on people like this a poor way to sell even a well thought out proposal, meaning even some people who might like idea in principle won't be on board.
But, who knows? There was noth That’s has much to do with Ukraine’s acute demographic problems.
Yougov found 34% of voters back a year's compulsory military or community service which is actually more than the current Tory poll rating. Indeed 50% of 2019 Conservative voters back such compulsory national service to 44% opposed, 54% of Leave voters back it too
https://ygo-assets-websites-editorial-emea.yougov.net/documents/YouGov_-_National_service.pdf
Get 16 and 17 year olds to vote, as they will actually have to do it.
Death penalty is coming, I’m telling you.
.
Sunak has gone off the deep end. Certifiable. He will be ranting about pixies soon enough.
https://youtu.be/M4L-fKOZ9Zs?feature=shared&t=49
What a depressing state of affairs.
The imv very signif bit: its funded by closing the Shared Prosperity Fund, which was the UK replacement for EU structural funds, in 2028 after only six years. UKSPF is a "central pillar" of "levelling up" (source: HMG).
UKSPF was also an element of the 2019 manifesto.. and retaining like-for-like EU funding was a key Vote Leave commitment.
Observation: option to shutter the UKSPF in favour of national service is an interesting glimpse into the party's thinking as to whether its core vote (and with it the 2019 coalition) is motivated by cultural or economic concerns.
Despite wanting the Tories out I don't want them annilhilated, this is a depressing move in that respect.
I get wanting to claw back from Reform, but this was the solution?!
Right Rishi? Rishi?
Young people have already done their share of national service — it was called ‘lockdown’.
https://x.com/si_rubinstein/status/1794477700943331531?s=46
Tory manifesto session - bring back national service, yes and ho
https://x.com/robertshrimsley/status/1794482982624841785
She was born the same month as me.
I'm 57 now.
In reality people will respond to it as if 18 year olds will be conscripted on 5 July - turnout among the cohort could be higher than usual.
Sub 150 MPs nailed on.
Jim Pickard 🐋
@PickardJE
turns out that the National Citizen Service (David Cameron’s pet project) had its funding slashed by two-thirds in a 2022 review of government youth funding - when Rishi Sunak was chancellor
https://x.com/PickardJE/status/1794477755788153191
Love the way this manages to junk the two main messages of the last election - Brexit dividend and levelling up - in one go
Colin Murray
@CRGMurray
·
11m
Theresa May was a genius campaigner next to this. Someone ask Sunak how this will apply in NI...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workfare_in_the_United_Kingdom
I bet it wouldn't even cost that much when you look at the fact these loans never get fully repaid anyway and the fact you paid £100k+ to train a dentist.
We absolutely did lock down to protect the elderly and society - we did our bit. In return we've been shafted. So Rishi can sod off with his stupid ideas, I am genuinely really angry about this idea.
- Rishi Sunak is bound to be asked if tonight’s announcement means he is giving up on levelling-up Britain’s left-behind areas
- given the national service policy would be funded mostly (though not entirely) from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which was previously earmarked for levelling-up
I don't mind the scraggy arsed barsteward from around the corner trying to sire my daughter getting his head shaved and his arse kicked by the BSM, but not my children and grandchildren.
He finally killed off the tory bollocks about levelling up when he destroyed the HS2 to the North project on a whim.
"And would you be more likely to vote for us if you thought we might kill your grandchildren?"