Alcester sixth-formers give their reaction to Rishi Sunak’s compulsory national service plan for 18-year-olds.

The policy Sunak and the Conservatives suggest is nothing short of nonsense, in what appears to me to be a desperate attempt to win back older generation voters, who have never served in any kind of national service, who are perhaps drifting towards Reform UK.

As a 17- year-old who has completed my Silver DofE award and continues my Gold DofE, the idea of volunteering isn’t a new concept to me. I actually believe that encouraging young people to work with their local communities is, all in all, not a bad idea, as it can build a sense of responsibility and work ethic for young people. I personally would be very happy to work with local services for a few weekends a year, but I recognise that this comes from a position of great privilege. For young people trying to balance their education with necessary jobs to help their families, mandatory unpaid work would be just another difficulty for them to face.

Writing on X (formerly Twitter), Sunak points to countries such as Sweden and Denmark, which have similar programs. However, these countries have much stronger youth services and much higher public spending which, to me, would seem to justify having young people give back to their country and communities. If Sunak wants Britain to be more like the rest of Europe, maybe he shouldn’t have backed such a hard Brexit and been part of a government that has cut spending on youth services over the last 14 years. I believe a more sensible alternative would be to increase funding into things like DofE – an excellent programme that many people simply cannot afford at the hundreds of pounds that it costs.

The military side of things, as pointed out by many higher-ups within the military, is even more ridiculous and would only lead to the armed forces being diluted with people who don’t particularly want to be there. It also raises questions as to whether this is really a productive use of the limited money that our country has.

Tess Forsyth, 16

AS a 16-year-old sixth former, my initial thoughts towards the mandatory national service were feeling somewhat disrespected as a young member of society. It is blatantly obvious that this policy would affect those who cannot vote, like myself, so it comes across as a motive to gain votes from older generations.

I believe it paints the impression that young people require discipline, are lazy and do not contribute to society, however this is not the case. My friends and I all work part-time jobs alongside doing three or four A-levels. We take part in regular sports and have volunteering opportunities such as DofE.

This being a collection of both volunteering and resilience through the final walk and the hours required weekly to achieve the award. Furthermore, I believe issues such as housing shortages and the debt that I will meet following university are greater problems that I want my prime minister to focus on, rather than initiating a plan that will cost £2.5bn per year. I also feel that this policy raises the question of, why only now has this been implemented, alongside the increase of tax allowance for old people?

I think this is a strikingly obvious display that the Tories are campaigning to the older generations as their main target group despite young people being the future. It also encourages a divide between the young and old due to divisions of support towards the programme rather than bringing everyone together. For me, I feel that there is a tedious reputation created within the recent government as it has been shown that plans are suggested then no further action is taken to pursue them or that there is no actual idea on how to.

Young people’s demand is clear yet ignored. Arguably, there may be some positives to this plan, as for some this is a great opportunity to learn valuable skills through volunteering for the NHS to feel a sense of usefulness. Also, it creates a good opportunity to build the principles of team building alongside independence and the learning of valuable lifelong skills.

However, can it be justified to take these views into account when increasing issues such as NHS waiting times, or the cost-of-living crisis create a much more prominent problem in society?