Sunak’s plan to make 18-year-olds do national service grabs attention on UK election trail

LONDON — All 18-year-olds in Britain will have to perform a year of mandatory military or civilian national service if the governing Conservative Party wins the July 4 national election, the party said Sunday. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to bring back a form of national service for the first time in more than 60 years, seeking to energize his election campaign after a faltering start. Cleverly said Sunday that the main goal of the new plan was not boosting the military but building “a society where people mix with people outside their own communities, mix with people from different backgrounds, different religions, different income levels.” The Conservatives estimated the cost of the national service plan at 2.5 billion pounds a year. Labour said the national service announcement was a “desperate 2.5 billion pound unfunded commitment” from a party “bankrupt of ideas.” Former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the Tory plan amounted to “compulsory volunteering” and predicted “it’ll never happen.” Elections in the United Kingdom have to be held no more than five years apart.