A historian has suggested that unemployed graduates would be the primary target of any future conscription programme in the UK, while workers in key industries could be exempt. David Swift, author and historian, told the Express that military conscription would likely focus on those without jobs, as part of a strategy to rebuild Britain's defence capabilities.
Swift argued that people in occupations vital to defence industries might be exempt or even 'conscripted' into working in those sectors. He said: 'Today, since there is such an urgent need to rebuild Britain's defence industries and industrial capacity, I would expect that people in these important occupations would be exempt.' He added that targeting unemployed graduates would be popular with many, especially among the Blue Labour thinkers behind Sir Keir Starmer.
The comments come amid heightened fears of a third world war, driven by conflicts in Ukraine, tensions with Iran, China's ambitions towards Taiwan, and US President Donald Trump's overtures about Greenland. While nations like Finland and Estonia have long prepared their citizens for conflict, Britain is seen as lagging behind, with its military capability at its weakest in over 70 years.
Retired Army major and military historian Robert Lyman echoed concerns, stating that the UK's armed forces are 'never been so denuded of power since the Napoleonic wars.' He warned: 'We have an Army that is probably smaller than it was during the Napoleonic wars... You can't win wars using small armies.'
The UK has only implemented conscription twice in the past 126 years: from 1916 to 1920 and again from 1939 to 1960. As global tensions rise, questions about the nation's battle readiness have intensified.
