Minister ruled out national service due to morale fears

A Tory defence minister warned on the first day of the general election campaign that Rishi Sunak’s plan to reintroduce national service would damage morale” in the military. Dr Andrew Murrison signed off a written answer to fellow Tory MP Mark Pritchard which was published less than 24 hours after the prime minister had dramatically called a snap election.

- DAVID MADDOX

The response from a seasoned minister has been highlighted after a furious backlash to the Tory plan to reintroduce national service for school leavers. National service was scrapped in 1963 but now, if the Conservatives win power again, school leavers would be given the option of joining the military and getting paid or doing voluntary service for nothing.

In his response, Dr Murrison warned: “The demanding, increasingly technical nature of defence today is such that we require highly trained, professional men and women in our regular and reserve armed forces, fully committed to giving their best in defending our country and its allies.

“If potentially unwilling national service recruits were to be obliged to serve alongside the professional men and women of our armed forces, it could damage morale, recruitment and retention and would consume professional military and naval resources.

“If, on the other hand, national service recruits were kept in separate units, it would be difficult to find a proper and meaningful role for them, potentially harming motivation and discipline. For all these reasons, there are no current plans for the restoration of any form of national service.”

The public sector union Unison suggested the Conservatives were trying to find a way of filling job vacancies on the cheap as the government tries to stem the flow of immigration. Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Essential services need proper resourcing and enough decently paid staff to deliver for the public, not thousands of reluctant teen ‘volunteers’ who’d rather be anywhere else and would require supervision by an already overstretched workforce.”