National Service in 2024 in the United Kingdom? A Conservative ploy for compliance- Jacob Barclay-Evans

National Service is an institutionalised scheme, aimed to enlist young people into the Armed forces for years at a time. The idea is rooted in 1949 when the Government introduced this policy to prepare for any eventuality for war and other means of service; Rishi Sunak has stated that the reintroduction of national conscription would bring "a renewed sense of pride in our country". Labour leaders have deemed this part of the Tory manifesto as a mere gimmick and an act of desperation to secure the vote of old-money militant patriots who were considering defecting to the Reform UK Party. Although, there may be some truth in Labour's claims, if we delve deeper into the current social attitudes of the British youth and how this hurts the interest of the Conservative party, there may be a dual agenda beneath the surface of this debacle that poses a threat to our teenagers in search for their "Why" in life.

Firstly, it is imperative to provide context to this thesis; to do this, we must turn our attention to the current state of our public education system and why it is set up this way. Even today, British education stems from the first public school scheme back in the mid-nineteenth as a result of the Education Act 1870. [1] The industrial revolution had begun, the migration from rural villages to new cities was imminent, and the emerging working class needed a formal education to mould them into docile and complicit forms of labour. [2] To some extent, this framework still applies to public schools; we have career advisors, a rigid syllabus, and extraverted pupils who are sometimes misunderstood and wrongly labelled as disruptive for not complying with classroom etiquette. Scholars, such as Martin Booth in 2010, have shown their concerns about curriculums in humanities subjects like history because there are underlying principles in which the subject is taught at school level that children who don't venture into University will never have exposure to. [3] Therefore, bringing back National Service only echoes the view that the elite don't want a nation full of thinkers; they use the concept of pride in ones country as a smokescreen to keep normal people away from the big conversations the UK faces, allowing them to maintain control.

Given the context about schooling, the advancements in technology has seen the emergence of a youth, subscribed to a life of personal growth and a "portfolio career", has turned an increasing amount of 18-year old's to go to University every year. [4] A record amount of A-Level school finishers headed for higher education in 2021 with a 21% increase in enrollments since 2019. [5] On top of this, never before have a generation of people been able to tap into the societal makeup of our communities due to an increasing presence on online forums such as Reddit and X, where an abundance of primary material, interaction with politicians, and real evidence is shared with the public. This mass exposure to a symphony of ideas, combined with politicised social media platforms, has enabled the middling sorts to integrate social mobility with fluid working conditions. The increase in hybrid/remote working and freelance positions are vivid examples of this. However, the introduction of National Service will force people into putting their careers and personal ventures on hold for the purpose of discipline and armed service will once again drill obedience back into the impressionable youth, thus, plummeting society back into hierarchal tyranny. Some people are bound to have their heads turned in this process which will throw any career aspirations they once had off course.

In general, other generations have seemingly opposing views to this because they haven't always been exposed to such dimensions of education which often creates friction between young and old. Until the dawn of the technological age, working people sourced their material from funded newspapers and readily available news channels which acted as a mouthpiece to influence 'commoners'. In fact, yougov statistics note that those aged between 18-24 are less likely to describe themselves as traditionally patriotic in comparison to the average person over 60. [6] This is no coincidence.

Another reason for this may be due to the decline of religion in the western world. People often link national identity with religion. The notion of being subservient to a ruling class, like the British Constitutional Monarchy, derives from the belief that the head of state is appointed by god to biblically protect their subjects in exchange for their service to the nation, e.g. National Service. Moreover, the 2021 census showed an 11% decrease in UK citizens claiming to be Christians with 38% of people identifying to be Athiest/Agnotsic. [7] Here, we see that because as time goes on, we seem to be losing religion and in turn, patriotism; this promotes individualism and the basis of self empowerment. People have progressively began to start living their lives for themselves rather than the state, who once again, use a higher being for the purpose of marginalising the working classes. When Mr. Sunak claims that National Service will bring back a concept of patriotism towards the UK, think very carefully about the meaning of the term 'patriotism' and how it should function within society.

Indeed, there are still some aspects of our society which make this country 'great'; its not in the colour of our skin, our gender, sexual orientation, nor is it in our government. It's in our people, those keeping an underfunded NHS alive, those serving in the Armed forces, the heavily understaffed police officers who have been forced into response units rather than community policing. Instead of forcing teenagers to work for free for these industries, there are multitudes of ways to make them more attractive places of work. In terms of the armed forces, the government could ensure that a proper housing system for estranged soldiers after their service is implemented; they could provide more mental health support with those suffering with PTSD. We could focus our foreign policy more about the art of defence rather than playing international police in the Middle-East to make this country impregnable once again. Most importantly, we could fund the NHS correctly to bring waiting times down.

Our taxes already go towards these national industries and its about time those working them from the ground upwards start to see some of it. Before you vote for your next prime minister on July 4th, please consider the intent of all of our politicians and don't take headlines at face value.

Take a step back and critically assess.

By Jacob-Barclay-Evans

[1]Baker, G., 2001. The romantic and radical nature of the 1870 Education Act. History of Education, 30(3), pp.211-232.
[2]Roderick, G.W. and Stephens, M.D., 2022. The British Education System 1870–1970. In The British Malaise (pp. 11-29). Routledge.
[3]Booth, M., 1994. Cognition in history: A British perspective. Educational Psychologist, 29(2), pp.61-69.
[4]Handy, C.B. and Handy, C., 1995. The empty raincoat: Making sense of the future. Random House.
[5]Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2020/21 https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/25-01-2022/sb262-higher-education-student-statistics
[6]https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/12796-decline-british-patriotism
[7]Davies,A.,2022.Is religion dying in England and Wales? The University of Birmingham Press.https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2022/is-religion-dying-in-england-and-wales