Rishi Sunak has finally revealed what the sanctions will be for refusing to do National Service – and he was laughed at.
The PM has previously said he wanted the scheme to have “the right mix” of sanctions and incentives – which would be decided by a Royal Commission. But pressed for examples by host Fiona Bruce on the BBC Question Time Leaders’ Special, the Prime Minister eventually blurted out some possibilities.
“How will you make people do it,” she asked. “Sorry?” The PM replied.
“If National Service is going to be compulsory, how will you make people do It?” Ms Bruce asked again. The PM said: “Well you’ll have a set of sanctions and incentives, and we’ll look at the models that are existing around Europe to get the appropriate mix of those.”
Ms Bruce asked again: “Like what?” Mr Sunak said: “There’s a range of different options that exist.”
BBC)
“For example?” Ms Bruce asked. “There’s all sorts of things that people do around Europe, whether that’s looking at driving licences, other access to finance, all sorts of other things,” the Tory leader said.
“Access to finance? So if people don’t want to do National service you take their bank cards away? They can’t get a loan?” Ms Bruce asked. The audience began to laugh at this point.
Mr Sunak said: “There’s lots of different models around Europe – this has been done in multiple countries in Europe. There’s a range of things and we’ll have a Royal Commission look at those, come back to the government and recommend what the right thing in terms of incentives and sanctions should be.”
The PM suggested it would be “politicising the armed forces during an election campaign” to respond to criticism of his national service policy.
Asked about comments from Lord West of Spithead, a former chief of the naval staff and Labour peer, who is reported to have called the policy “bonkers”, Mr Sunak told the BBC Question Time audience: “Well it wouldn’t be appropriate to start politicising the armed forces during an election campaign.”
The Prime Minister insisted the military route was optional, despite the proposed national service scheme being compulsory.