Defence minister ruled out national service over morale fears day after Rishi Sunak called election

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} 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. Rishi Sunak wants to reintroduce national service In his response, Mr 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. 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.” There was also a row over how the scheme would be funded with anger that the Conservatives plan to raid cash for “levelling up” in the Shared Prosperity Fund to pay for their new national service plan. Lib Dem local government spokesperson Helen Morgan said: “The fact they are planning to slash local funding to pay for these ludicrous plans shows just how out of touch the Conservative Party has become.” Historian Glen O’Hara, a professor of modern and contemporary history at Oxford Brookes University, said: “The Tories have abandoned levelling up tonight, abandoned coastal Britain, abandoned North Wales, abandoned Cornwall and all those areas they promised wouldn't lose out from Brexit.