A retired Royal Navy Commodore has dismissed calls for the return of National Service in the UK, calling the idea a “red herring” and highlighting significant practical challenges.
Steve Prest, a former Commodore, told the Express that while conflict with Russia is more likely today than at any time since the height of the Cold War, he does not believe reintroducing conscription is a viable solution.
Practical challenges highlighted
Commodore Prest argued that “there are very few people around now who actually did National Service”, noting that while the parents of baby boomers served, the boomers themselves did not. He described the idea as “a bit of a totem”, adding that “everyone's got a bit of a sort of Dad's Army view”.
He said that National Service “like that is quite inefficient, actually”, and questioned how the government would accommodate Britons into the armed forces, including who would be selected and how many.
“How do you select them?” he asked. “Do you make it sufficiently attractive that if you come and do your National Service, we pay for your university tuition fees? So, suddenly, there's a fight for everyone to get in.”
Scale and cost concerns
The former Navy officer raised concerns about the scale of such a programme, asking: “If you end up with, say, a couple of hundred thousand young people a year doing it, well, who's going to run it? Who's going to train them? Who's going to employ them?”
He stressed the need to grow the regular armed forces to provide officers and senior NCOs to lead the scheme, and questioned whether the government would need another 200,000 or 300,000 beds in military single living accommodation.
Commodore Prest said National Service might sound “attractive”, but then “you have to start thinking through what it would actually take to implement it at any scale”. He added: “We could do it. Of course we could. But are we, as a nation, saying? [...] How are we going to pay for it?”
He suggested that if everyone thought National Service was such a good idea, “let's put two pence on everyone's Income Tax, on the basic rate, and we'll use that to pay for it”, adding: “Does everyone still think it's a good idea? I bet you they wouldn't.”
Alternative approaches and opposing views
Instead, Commodore Prest suggested more attention should be paid to cadet forces and the Scout movement, which he said provide “brilliant skills and opportunities” and ensure young people get leadership training and learn self-discipline and self-respect.
However, former soldier and Conservative minister Tobias Ellwood holds a different view. Writing for the Express, he argued: “Our enemies understand something we seem determined to ignore: modern warfare doesn't just target soldiers. It targets society itself.”
Ellwood proposed a modern National Service, noting that Finland and Sweden offer models to follow. He suggested an eight-month programme for 18-year-olds, followed by annual refresher training, to build a generation equipped to defend and support their country across the full spectrum of modern threats.
