SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has described plans by the Conservative Party to introduce mandatory national service or volunteering in the community across the UK as “utterly bonkers”, adding it would be “chaos” to try and implement in Northern Ireland.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the Foyle MP said that those in Derry would have a different experience of the British army than those in Leicester, and the idea of asking 18-year-olds to sign up for a year was “total nonsense”.
It emerged yesterday that 18-year-olds would be forced to carry out a form of national service if the Tories are voted back in at the 4 July general election.
Young people would be given a choice between a full-time placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spending one weekend a month for a year “volunteering” in their community, the Tories said.
Those who choose to sign up for a placement in the forces would “learn and take part in logistics, cyber security, procurement or civil response operations”, the Tories said.
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In a statement this morning, the party confirmed that it would apply in Northern Ireland, though there may be some factors in implementing it there that a Royal Commission will engage on and examine.
Mr Eastwood said that the move was an “election stunt”.
“I’m not sure we should take the chance of allowing them to implement this kind of thing. It would be chaos trying to bring this in in Northern Ireland”.
He said that the Tory party had spent 14 years stripping away public service and funding for community organisations, and should now fill those gaps with proper pay for a decent day’s work.
“If they wanted to do anything about that, they should begin to put the money back into those communities.
“It’s a sign of a faltering Tory party election campaign and they are trying to save it”.
He added that the move has not been thought through, and “the money doesn’t add up at all”, adding that he did not think the plan would be implementable, particularly judging from the response on social media from young people across the UK.
“It will do wonders for galvanising the vote around the Labour party in England in particular. People are priced out of the housing market, they can’t get a decent living wage to do proper work, they are denied rights that other workers have and now they are going to be told that they have to take whatever spare time they have to go work for free or join the army, and possibly be sent to some warzone around the world.
“It is just bonkers and I don’t think it’ll happen, but the best way to make sure it doesn’t happen is to make sure there isn’t a Tory government after this election”.
