The United Kingdom considers bringing back conscription and mandatory service...

 

UK Prime Minster Rishi Sunak. AP.

The United Kingdom is considering bringing back conscription and mandatory service for young people. AP. UK Prime Minster Rishi Sunak said that if the Tories win in the July 4th general election his government will bring back conscription and mandatory service for all 18 year olds. Only a small number of 18 year olds would be drafted while the rest would be drafted into one weekend a month service projects. Up to 30,000 would have to spend a year in the military. The UK has had an all volunteer force since 1960, though it has had recruitment problems recently. It is unclear how such a plan would be put into effect and British Home Secretary James Clevery said nobody would be forced to join the military. 

My Comment:

This plan seems like utter madness for a party that is already behind in election polls. The Tories have been in power for 14 years now and are unpopular but this plan is not going to help them at all. My guess is that they get badly damaged in the July 4th elections. 

Bringing back the draft, even if it is for a minority of 18 year olds, is not going to be popular. It wouldn't be popular under any circumstances outside of an invasion, but to do it during peacetime is not going to fly. Anyone who might be drafted or anyone who knows and cares about someone who could be drafted would be very upset about this. 

The context of this is the Ukraine war. Britain hasn't been as vocal about sending troops to Ukraine as France has but I know the parents of these 18 year olds understand that if they get drafted they could be sent to the meat grinder that is the Ukraine war. The UK military is a shell of their former self and they desperately need recruits even without the threat of a wider Ukraine war. Bringing back the draft is a way to do that. 

The service idea is a lot more justifiable. I do think this kind of forced volunteerism is at least defensible, but the problem with it is the fact that the government is compelling it. I don't sure how they are going to be able to force people to volunteer like this, though it would be a better way to spend money than a lot of the things the government wants to do. 

Regardless, I don't see this ever coming to pass. The Tories are about as likely to lose in 2024 as Joe Biden is here in the United States. And announcing this policy before the election is going to make their chances even worse. There is basically no way that this ever happens, at least in the current form under the current geo-political conditions. 

The whole thing reminds me of the scenes we have seen in Ukraine where draft officers have been shanghaiing people off of the street to be sent to the front line. Would there be a similar level of tyranny in the UK if this were to happen? It's very possible if a war is happening... 

It also makes me wonder if such a thing would happen here. America technically still has a draft system, I had to register when I was 18, but bringing it back would be even more unpopular than it would be in the UK. America has bad feelings about the draft after our experience in the Vietnam war and it would probably require a nuclear war or alien invasion to get people to support  another draft... But given how the government under Joe Biden just does whatever it wants without regard to legality or popularity I could see it happening regardless.