Why the Prime Minister’s plans for national service are seriously flawed - Jayne Dowle

While Labour has dismissed Mr Sunak’s proposals as a “teenage Dad’s Army”, the Prime Minister claims national service would help to create a “renewed sense of pride in our country”.

I’m not sure where he’s getting the word ‘renewed’ from. He shouldn’t take anything for granted when it comes to national pride; many young people are culturally alienated from whatever ‘Great Britain’ is. Giving them a uniform to wear won’t suddenly bring them onside. We’re a diverse, individualistic nation, riven with social inequalities; what works in Scandinavia won’t necessarily work here.

As an idea, and instilled over time, so it becomes ingrained in the national psyche as a rite of passage, there are positive aspects to 18-year-olds meeting their responsibilities as well as enjoying rights, I get that.

As a manifesto pledge though, it’s a cheap way to get older voters on side; and you’re over 80 and male if you ever did mandatory National Service after the Second World War. Your memories of painting endless fences or losing your mates on active service in Korea might not be too rosy. And of course, it alienates younger voters.

Forget the economy – Mr Sunak seems to have – the NHS and terrible public transport, what will really sort out the country is frightening kids and worrying their parents. Please don’t call me a snowflake, but is it any wonder the country is in the grip of a mental health crisis?

My son, who turns 22 in August, is mildly teasing his 18-year-old sister, because if the national service plan goes ahead – presuming the Conservatives win and the promised Royal Commission to bash the details out gets off the ground – he would be technically too old.

And, as Jack points out with some force, like many other young people, he works every other weekend already, as well as through the week. Alternate Saturdays and Sundays mean two back-to-back 13-hour shifts in a care home for adults with severe mental and physical needs.

Indeed, what he does for his paid employment, supporting residents with showering, dressing, cooking, might in the hazy imaginings of Mr Sunak, be just the sort of thing non-combatively inclined youngsters could help out with “in the community”.

What perhaps the Prime Minister doesn’t appreciate is that it took almost three months for Jack’s DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) clearance to come through last summer, to prove he was judged safe to work with vulnerable people.

Say half the 700,000-plus 18-year-olds in the UK opted for community service rather than the military. Has Mr Sunak costed the colossal investment in back room operations that would be required to check all these youngsters were suitable for helping out in care homes, the NHS and so on?

Consider the laissez-faire WFH post-pandemic vibe of HMRC, the civil service and the DVLA, all public bodies found lacking when it comes to getting the job done in recent years, and you can imagine the delay and chaos.

This government can’t even organise a proper national apprenticeship scheme to help fill the vacancies in practical trades and occupations such as accountancy. Yet it thinks it can somehow put 700,000-plus young people into placements which will match their skills, aptitude and personalities.

My daughter Lizzie meanwhile, who hopes to study law at university in September, is already stressing about how she is going to manage everything; academic study and working part-time to fund herself, because the maintenance loan she’ll receive (and have to pay back, obviously) won’t even cover the basic cost of her accommodation in student halls. “Why do politicians hate young people?” she asks.

She has a valid point. Like her brother, she has worked alongside her studies since she was 16.

A key flaw with the national service idea is that it presupposes all young people aged 18 to 21 are either enjoying themselves at university with trust fund incomes meaning they don’t need to wait tables at weekends, or roaming the streets taking ket and robbing cars.