If the Conservatives win the general election, teenagers will be expected to take part in national service when they turn 18. 

Exactly how the scheme would work has not yet been hammered out. The Tories have said they would set up a royal commission – a type of public inquiry – to come up with the details.

But here is what we know so far about what teenagers could be doing, who might be exempt and what would happen to those who refuse to take part.

How would national service work?

Under the Conservatives’ new plan for national service, 18-year-olds would take part in one of two streams:

Community volunteering: The vast majority of teenagers would take this pathway.

It would require them to spend one weekend a month volunteering, for one year – 25 days in total.

The voluntary placements would be in the local community, with organisations such as the police, the fire service, the NHS, or charities that work with older isolated people.

Conservative MPs have given various examples of the kinds of volunteering teenagers could do, including delivering prescriptions or food to infirm people, being a lifeguard, supporting communities during storms and working with search and rescue.

Military training: 30,000 teenagers would be able to take up places to spend a year full-time in the armed forces.

Young adults would need to apply for the programme and tests would be used to select the best candidates.

This pathway would not involve combat. Rather, young people would “learn and take part in logistics, cyber security, procurement or civil response operations”, the Tories said.

Talking to Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Home Secretary James Cleverly said those who choose the military option “will be motivated to join the military” after the year-long placement.

Who will be exempt?

The Conservatives have not announced details about who would be exempt from national service – but they have confirmed that royal children would be expected to take part.

When national service was in place after the Second World War, it covered “able-bodied men” and excluded blind people and men with a mental illness.

It is not clear whether similar rules would apply under the new proposal. Disabled people may not be automatically excluded as they were in the past given voluntary placements are likely to be suited to a wide range of people.

In other countries that have national service, exemptions are mostly granted on medical grounds.

Where national or military service is a full-time requirement, people may be able to get an exemption if they are a university student, only son, single parent or professional athlete.

Would women have to do it too?

Yes, the plan involves all 18-year-olds regardless of gender.

Women were first included in national service during the Second World War, but after 1945 they were no longer included despite the scheme continuing for men.

How is national service different from conscription?

Conscription legally requires people to join the Armed Forces for a certain period.

The Tories’ plan for national service is different in that it does not compel people to serve with the military.

Would there be punishments for not taking part?

People who refused to take part would not end up in jail.

“There’s going to be no criminal sanctions,” Home Secretary James Cleverly told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

“Nobody will be compelled to do the military element,” he added.

It remains unclear how it will be made compulsory.

Speaking to Times Radio, Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan compared the compulsory nature of the proposed national service to young people having to attend school until they are 18.

She did not rule out the possibility of parents being fined if their children do not take part, but said the details of how the scheme would be made mandatory would be established by the royal commission.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, the Mr Sunak said: “To those who complain that making it mandatory is unreasonable, I say: citizenship brings with it obligations as well as rights. Being British is about more than just the queue you join at passport control.”

Will people be paid?

Mr Cleverly said those who do the military element will be paid – while those who choose to volunteer will not be paid.

How would it be funded?

The Conservatives said the national service programme would cost £2.5bn a year and would be funded by cash previously used for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion.

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Has national service been pitched before?

At the start of this year, top military officials touted the idea of conscription as they discussed what could happen if NATO went to war with Russia.

The head of the British Army said UK citizens should be “trained and equipped” to fight in a potential war, while Britain’s former top NATO commander said it was time to get over the “cultural hang-ups” around conscription.

Downing Street ruled out any move towards conscription, saying army service would remain voluntary.

But a similar model to the Tories’ national service scheme has been pitched recently.

Last year, centre-right thinktank Onward proposed a “Great British National Service” scheme.

Like the Conservatives’ current proposal, it focused on volunteering and suggested 16-year-olds should have to complete a certain number of volunteering hours.

A key difference was that it was not mandatory – it proposed a system where 16-year-olds were automatically enrolled, but could opt out.

Research commissioned by Onward showed 57% of British people supported national service and 19% opposed it.

It found the most popular model included civil and military activities, with 53% more likely to support a mixed programme.

The ideas won the support of the leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, and former Tory minister Rory Stewart.

What has the reaction been?

Critics from across the political divide have dismissed the Tories’ plan as unserious, while leading military figures are sceptical over how it would work.

Sir Keir Starmer called the national service policy “a sort of teenage Dad’s Army“, while Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall accused the policy of being “yet another unfunded spending commitment”.

She told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “That UK Prosperity Fund is supposed to be used to tackle economic inactivity and helping people get back into work so that really undermines another one of their arguments.

“This is an unfunded commitment, a headline-grabbing gimmick.”

Mr Cleverly said the main point of the policy was to make sure “people mix with people outside their bubble” for “community cohesion”.

He said: “We want to build a society where people mix with people outside their own communities, mix with people from different backgrounds, different religions, different income levels.

The King has been given the first seedling from the famous Sycamore Gap tree, which was cut down last year.

The National Trust has presented the monarch with the first seedling grown from seeds collected from the felled landmark for Celebration Day.

The event takes place on the last bank holiday Monday in May and is designed to encourage people to remember and celebrate the lives of those no longer here, according to organisers.

Once the seedling has matured into a sapling, the monarch will have it planted in Windsor Great Park for visitors to enjoy as a symbol of the hope and beauty that can come from loss, the National Trust said.

“When the seedling has grown, His Majesty hopes to scale it in Windsor Great Park, where in time the wind will help ensure that its seeds, in their turn, are still more widely distributed,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement on X.

“Part of the power of trees to move and console us lies in the continuity and hope they represent: the sense that, rooted in the past and flourishing in the present, their seeds will be carried into an as yet unimaginable future.”

The King is patron to the National Trust and was its president from 2003 until his ascension to the throne in 2022.

Hilary McGrady, director general of the National Trust, said: “It is wonderful news that His Majesty will one day have the very first sapling grown from this iconic tree.

“The new tree will be seen by many thousands each year and will be the first of many Sycamore Gap saplings planted at different places, in Northumberland and beyond.

“The swell of emotion we saw after the sycamore was felled goes to show how personally connected we all are to our natural heritage.

“These new green shoots are keeping the story of the Sycamore Gap alive and are serving as a reminder of the simple and much-needed hope, joy and respite that nature can bring.”

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It comes after a district judge said the case of two men accused of felling the tree is too serious for a magistrates’ court and must be dealt with at the crown court.

The public got its first glimpse of the seedling at the Chelsea Flower Show on 20 May when Dame Judi Dench placed it in the Octavia Hill garden – which is named after the National Trust’s founder.

The Sycamore Gap tree was among the most photographed trees in the UK and was made famous in a scene in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.

The National Trust said planting plans for the other surviving seedlings will be announced later this year.

It is hoped the trees these seedlings grow into, including the one received by the King, will distribute their own seeds widely through the wind.

Gareth Bale has revealed to Sky News concerns football could become “too greedy”, with players’ mental and physical well-being endangered by growing fixture demands.

The former Wales captain, who won every major honour with Real Madrid, urged football authorities to act so “it doesn’t take something bad to happen for that to change”.

In his first notable interview since retiring in January 2023, Bale reflected on the highs and lows of an illustrious career, assessed the wider state of the game – including what he describes as the need to scrap VAR – and expressed admiration for Jude Bellingham’s immediate impact at Madrid.

Bale retired at 33 as a five-time Champions League winner with Madrid – becoming Britain’s most successful male footballing export while still facing difficult times winning over fans in Spain.

The pressures he felt are now only growing as competitions add matches, much to the frustration of global players’ union FIFPRO.

Bale said in an exclusive interview with Sky News: “The intensity and the quickness [are] only getting higher, and it’s very difficult to continue playing at that high level.

“And then when the level comes down, you only get scrutinised.”

He said that while “everybody understands that money … plays a big part” and “more games means more money”, players “want to play the right amount of games where you can cope with it without it being dangerous”.

He added: “It’s a very fine line, but hopefully everybody can come together and come to a right resolution for player welfare.”

Some players now could be required for more than 85 matches in a season for club and country with FIFA introducing a new 32-team Club World Cup every four years and UEFA expanding the Champions League.

“The amount of fixtures is becoming more and more and it’ll just become more demanding – and hopefully it doesn’t take something bad to happen for that to change,” Bale said.

“Looking after the players is an important thing. They’re the ones who are growing the game, bringing the fans in to watch them.”

Asked about hopes for football, Bale replied: “It’s just about staying together as one and without certain things getting too greedy.”

‘VAR only made it worse’

One thing he certainly doesn’t miss is video assistant referees delaying celebrations and ruling out goals.

Premier League clubs are set to vote next week on whether to scrap VAR.

VAR, Bale says, was “supposed to take away the controversy in football and it’s only made it worse – I like the human error aspect”.

“Things in slow motion look a lot worse than they do in real time. So, when you slow things down, a handball looks way more of a handball than it does in real action.

“So I don’t like it. I would like to see it gone personally.”

‘Fantastic’ Bellingham

Bale led Tottenham into the Champions League for the first time before an £85m move to Madrid in 2013.

The 14-time European champions are back in the final on Saturday at Wembley Stadium against Borussia Dortmund – a notable homecoming for Jude Bellingham after a wondrous first season in the Spanish capital.

The 20-year-old English star has already won LaLiga with 19 goals and six assists.

“At such a young age to be doing what he’s doing is fantastic,” Bale said. “It’s great to see, it’s refreshing and it’s important.”

It is especially important to get off to a good start at a club of such history and tradition like Real Madrid, he said.

“The intensity, the pressure that you can feel under…,” said Bale.

“So, he had a great start so far. Obviously, they still have a big game to come and it’ll be great for him to win a Champions League in his first season, that really settles the pressure and, hopefully, he can kick on from there.”

Ups and downs in Madrid

Life in Madrid wasn’t always easy for Bale, with jeers from his own fans despite being so integral on the big occasions with memorable goals like the scissor kick in the 2018 Champions League final win over Liverpool.

“Of course, there’s always going to be ups and downs,” Bale said. “It’s how you deal with those, how you bounce back, how your character comes out.

“There were obviously some great times, there were obviously some bad. But, I think normally the good outweighs the bad in the end.”

Undoubtedly the biggest moments of pride came with his country – leading Wales to the Euro 2016 semifinals and ending their 62-year World Cup exile in 2022.

“If you’d told me when I was a young kid that I would have the career I did, I probably would never have believed you,” Bale said. “I feel like I overachieved”.

“But I think as you get older, your goals change, your body changes, your talent kind of takes over, the hard work kicks in.”

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Now there is more time for golf and family.

“It’s been really nice just to take a step back and have that pressure just relieved a bit,” he said.

“So it’s been good. Obviously I’ve spoken to people when they’ve retired. It’s all about keeping stuff a little bit busy.”

Climate concern

Bale also expressed concern over how football impacts climate change – and stressed the importance of not neglecting the environment while chasing sporting glory.

His message for collective action on sustainability features alongside those of other players, clubs and fans on a Pledge Ball made from recycled boots by Champions League sponsor Mastercard.

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“It’s difficult to make big changes,” Bale said. “It’s always about making those little changes.”

Bale urged the media “to write about the good things, not the bad things”, mentioning Lewis Hamilton as an example of somebody who is “doing a lot of good” and gets “unfair” treatment.

“He made such a massive effort to kind of change his environment and to do right,” Bale said of the F1 driver.

“And then people forget all the hard work he’s done and write maybe about just the small, I guess, negative where he drives an F1 car, which is obviously CO2. So, people need to realise that he’s doing a lot of good and not just that little bit of not bad.

“So, I think for him to make such a big change was massive. But to get the scrutiny I guess he got was very unfair.”

The sense is Bale also prefers life without scrutiny, away from the football spotlight with no desire to become a coach.

“I’m enjoying time, being at home with the family, spending more time with the kids,” he said.

“Enjoying life, to be honest.”