The Conservatives were right to sense that Britain needs a new kind of national service, but their hurried, mid-campaign rollout scuppered a serious national conversation.
We’ve got a welfare bill spiralling out of control, a military short of manpower, and a threat rising from the East - Britain needs to act before it’s too late.
I joined the Royal Navy at 18 as a young officer, and it shaped the rest of my life. The discipline, teamwork and sense of purpose I gained through training and service have guided me ever since - and I believe others could find the same direction and pride through a modern form of service.
Britain’s defence debate is too often focused on hardware and procurement targets while ignoring the obvious: we simply don’t have the manpower. With Nato under pressure and global threats escalating, we should be moving toward five per cent of GDP on defence, not clinging to token increases.
Article 5 - Nato's mutual-defence clause - means that an attack on one ally is an attack on all. If it were invoked tomorrow, could we raise, train and deploy enough people in time? I believe the answer is no.
Labour once had a minister who knew how to build real capability. Ernest Bevin was a maverick who defied bureaucracy and delivered the manpower that armed Britain in its darkest hour - a man of grit, not gimmicks.
He’d recognise what’s needed today: not a nostalgic throwback but a National Civil Defence Service ready for the crises of our age. Where his like could be found in today’s Labour Party, I couldn’t say.
The pandemic, the floods and the 2012 Olympics security scramble all proved how over-reliant we were on military manpower for civil contingencies. That’s not the job of our armed forces - their primary duty is to defend Britain’s security on the world stage, not to plug staffing shortfalls at home.
We need to reintroduce national service before it's too late - Stuart Fawcett | GETTY
We need a permanent Civil Defence Force, distinct from the military, trained for domestic emergencies yet ready to reinforce, deploy alongside or operate in parallel with our full-time forces in a worst-case scenario.
Let’s not dress this up: yes, it would need to be a uniformed service, organised, trained and prepared to fight if Nato needs us. Its personnel would be under Home Office command but stand ready to transfer to the Ministry of Defence for active deployment in mainland Europe if an Article 5 breach occurred. That’s the point - to make Britain ready, not reactive.
A force of around 250,000, consisting of and 80/20 split of part-time (TA Style) and a full-time skeleton staff, could be regionally organised and managed by professionals drawn from the civil service, emergency services and defence backgrounds.
Each serviceperson would serve one to three-year commitments, depending on confirmed onward opportunities. The key principle is simple: no one leaves service to fall into unemployment. Instead, the system would drive people directly into employment, education or training pipelines, turning state cost into national strength.
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Britain’s 18- to 24-year-olds - among the highest Neet rate in Western Europe - need structure, discipline and a route into skilled work. Meanwhile, many 48 to 55-year-olds possess the steadiness and know-how to lead younger recruits but are shut out of the labour market.
Redirecting DWP funds from long-term benefits to paid service placements would turn dependency into contribution and rebuild the nation’s work ethic.
We’ve got a welfare bill spiralling out of control and generations of people who have never worked or trained for work. The Strategic Defence Review 2025 rightly warns that Britain’s security now depends on national resilience as much as advanced weapons systems - but resilience means people, not just technology.
We face a rising threat from the East and a world growing more dangerous by the day. We cannot sit back and hope others will defend us. Britain must build, train and prepare -before it’s too late.