Sunak may sanction UK youth if they refuse compulsory national service
4 Min Read
The British PM becomes a subject of grilling during the BBC Question Time session as he is asked about the multiple issues facing the UK.
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a BBC Question Time Leaders' Special in York, England, on Thursday, June 20, 2024. (AP)
The British youth may face sanctions or restrictions to finance, driver's licenses, and "all sorts of other things" if they refuse to comply with the Conservative policy of compulsory national service for all 18-year-olds, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak indicated during a BBC Question Time.
Asked whether he could deny them bank cards, he replied, “There’s lot of different models around Europe.”
Sunak was thrown shouts of “shame” for his refusal to state that he would keep the UK in the European Convention on Human Rights, as he was also challenged on the alleged betting on the general election date, saying he was “incredibly angry” about it.
Last month, Sunak said he was planning on introducing a compulsory military service or alternative service for young people.
In an article for the Daily Mail, Sunak wrote, "We will reinvent National Service for today's Britain. It will provide life-changing opportunities for our young people, offering them the chance to learn real-world skills, do new things, and contribute to their community and our country … All 18-year-olds will do this new National Service, whatever their background and wherever they live in the UK."
Read more: Sunak under cabinet fire over plans to curb foreign student visas
Young people will be able to choose between full-time military service in the British armed forces for a year and alternative service in the form of volunteering in the rescue service and other structures for 25 days, the prime minister said.
"To those who complain that making it mandatory is unreasonable, 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. To be clear, our new National Service is not conscription. The vast majority of those who do it will not serve in our Armed Forces. Only those who choose to, and come through the tough entrance tests, will do that," Sunak added.
'A commonsense politician'
Asked about the infamous medical NHS waiting lists, he admitted that the government “haven’t made as much progress as I would like,” but things are improving, he claimed. When Sunak asked the questioner if this had convinced him, the questioner replied, “No”, while a doctor in the audience attacked Sunak saying, “People are suffering.”
Further, Sunak then called on people to judge him on his own record but was asked why the youth should put trust in him amid “shenanigans with the Tory party." Fiona Bruce, the host, said, “There’s a bit of a theme emerging.”
Before Sunak's questioning, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer was called out by a member of the audience for “all of the backtracking on policies from Labour,” which Starmer defended by saying that tough measures were needed, characterizing one as being between reducing NHS waiting lists and removing student tuition fees.
“They are political choices,” he said, calling himself “a commonsense politician," before adding, “I’m telling you what they are before the election, so people can make their mind up.”
The audience asked if he was speaking the truth when he praised Jeremy Corbyn during the 2019 election as someone who would make a “great” prime minister. He attempted to divert the situation by saying he did not expect Labour to win in 2019, and said, “I was campaigning for the Labour party, I was a Labour politician.”
The host then pressed him for a yes or no answer, to which he said that he believed Corbyn would have been better than his Conservative opponent, “Look what we got – Boris Johnson.”
The British Conservatives are expected to suffer a historic loss in July’s general election, ending their 14-year rule of the UK, according to three major polls on Wednesday.
A poll by Savanta and Electoral Calculus for The Telegraph forecasts the Tories winning only 53 seats out of 650 in July’s vote, marking an all-time low for the Conservative Party. The poll also predicts that current Tory leader and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could lose his seat in Richmond and Northallerton, an unprecedented setback for a serving PM.
