‘True value’ of Rishi Sunak’s National Service fiasco ‘threatens to sink it’

Rishi Sunak’s botched National Service plan is in chaos as startling new analysis suggested astronomical training costs could sink it.

Labour warned the Tories would have to launch a “Liz Truss-style borrowing spree” in order to deliver their manifesto pledges. The PM claims his controversial National Service scheme – which would see 18-year-olds forced to volunteer in their communities or join the Armed Forces – will cost £2.5billion.

But the non-military part alone will cost at least £2.67billion if youngsters are properly trained, Labour reckons. Ministers are also accused of underestimating the cost of training, housing, paying and equipping 30,000 teens who would join the Armed Forces under the scheme.

The military element could cost a huge £3.2billion, number-crunchers estimate – bringing the overcall cost of Mr Sunak’s plan to nearly £5.9billion a year. Such spending would “collapse” the rest of the Tories’ election promises, Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth claimed.

If it went ahead, young people would be given a choice between a placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spending one weekend a month for a year “volunteering,” in their community. The Tory manifesto says tens of thousands of teenagers will be directed to jobs like being a special constable, NHS responder or RNLI volunteer for 25 days a year. But analysis of training costs suggest it would be impossible to deliver this within budget if recruits are fully trained.

Met Police figures show that training a Special Constable takes 23 days and cost £3,889 in 2021 – with uniform costing a further £1,000. Meanwhile becoming a lifeboat volunteer costs £1,450 in training, along with equipment costs of £1,920, researchers found.

It takes around six months to learn the ropes before a week-long course at the RNLI College in Poole. This raises questions about how it could be done in the 25 days offered by the Tory plan.

And NHS responders – who support ambulance services by attending callouts in their own cars – undergo two weekends of training, costing £495. On top of that each “response bag” containing vital equipment costs £2,000.

Labour says that as training for these three roles costs an average of £3,585, it would cost an enormous £2.67billion to sort out placements for 745,000 18 year olds, as promised by the Tories. The Mirror put the figure to Conservative HQ, but it did not respond.

Mr Ashworth said: “If the National Service scheme costs billions more than the Tories have said, that means they’ll have no money from tax avoidance savings to pay for their other pledges on pensioner allowances, child benefit, and support for towns.

“And if all the tax avoidance money is taken up paying for the National Service scheme, that leaves the Tories even more reliant on welfare savings to fund the rest of their programme, which cannot be the answer when Jeremy Hunt himself has admitted that those savings are already included in the public finances baseline.”

He said the rocketing cost of the National Service plan would scupper all the other plans in the Conservative manifesto. He stated: “The entire edifice of the Tory election offer collapses as soon as the National Service costs and the non-existent welfare savings come under scrutiny, leaving them with a litany of unfunded, uncosted manifesto pledges, which can only be paid for through a Liz Truss-style borrowing spree, and a £4,800 hike in family mortgages.”

Mr Ashworth said that by contrast Labour has put forward a “clear, practical and fully-costed” plan. The National Insurance plan caused controversy when it was unveiled in May, days after the PM called a snap election.

Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker distanced himself from the plan, saying it had been “sprung” on candidates and top Tories without warning. And Tory insiders dubbed it “desperate”, while Labour has repeatedly dismissed it as a “teen Dad’s Army”.