With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of slowing down and the British armed forces perilously thin on the ground, should Rishi Sunak (or the next Prime Minister) re-introduce national service for youngsters?
The UK hasn’t had national service since 1960, and the last deferred national servicemen graduated in 1963.
However, with the armed forces pitifully low on manpower with just 152,400 personnel, compared to 4.69 million in 1945 according to Statista, Express.co.uk wants to know whether you think Britain should bring back military service.
With the war raging in eastern Europe and NATO allies scrambling to prepare themselves for the daunting prospect of a major conflict between the alliance and Russia, Denmark has launched national service for women.
The Danes enters all men over the age of 18 into a military service lottery, meaning some don’t have to serve. Women were first permitted to join voluntarily in 1998 and now they are being conscripted.
So, should Britain bring back national service? Vote below.
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For those that do national service in Denmark, they’ll now be in the forces for 11 months rather than four, as is the current term.
Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said at a press conference: “More robust conscription, including full gender equality, must contribute to solving defense challenges, national mobilization and manning our armed forces.”
Norway and Sweden already have national service men and women, meanwhile Spain, Portugal, Slovakia and Poland all have versions of it (although it’s rarely enforced).
However, there are other states in Europe that do enforce military service for men:
- Austria
- Switzerland
- Greece
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Moldova
- Estonia
- Lithuania
- Finland
- Belarus
- Russia
