Rishi Sunak rules out sporting benefits for national service

Rishi Sunak has proposed bringing back the national service uniform for 18-year-olds. Photo: PA/Henry Nicholls

Premier League Footballers and other top athletes will be denied exemptions under Rishi Sunak's vision for a new national service scheme.

Senior Tory sources have ruled out the possibility of any or exceptions, as leading football clubs have privately said they will oppose the new scheme. regime.

Those involved in the conservative plan announced over the weekend noted that other countries routinely include athletes in national service.

Heung-min Son, Paolo Maldini and Eric Cantona were among high-ranking players conscripted under previous forms of military service in their countries.

One senior official said the new election policy would be “more flexible” but “it applies to everyone,” no exceptions. “What a brilliant opportunity to bring people from different backgrounds together,” said one figure. «It's 25 days a year and there will be flexibility built in like in other countries.»

The prospect of drafting sports stars along with the rest of society would be an «amazing opportunity for integration.» , a Conservative source said.

The Conservatives have promised that if they win the general election, 18-year-olds will have to take part in a scheme involving military or civil service.

The Prime Minister made the comments after promising to bring back national service for 18-year-olds. summer in his first political statement during the general election campaign.

Under the plan, which is due to be fully in place by 2029-30 if Sunak wins the election, all 18-year-olds will be required by law to undertake either a 12-month apprenticeship in the Armed Forces or cyber defense or to opt out. the equivalent of one weekend a month to volunteer in their communities.

The Daily T podcast with Camille Tominey and Kamal Ahmed was asked whether he would choose to do 12 months of military service or spend one weekend a month. having volunteered in his community as part of his mandatory scheme, Mr Sunak chose the former.

“If I had time now, I would go into the military, and I actually regret not doing it more when I was younger,” he said.< /p>

His national service program aims to instill “common purpose” in young people and he told The Daily T: “One of the greatest privileges of this job is spending more time with our Armed Forces. That's what I would do now. The volunteering I did when I was younger was more of a civic nature.”