Rishi Sunak says he will bring back National Service if Tories win general election

Published

3 weeks ago

May 25, 2024

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Rishi Sunak has said he will introduce a new form of mandatory National Service for young people if the Conservatives win the general election.

In the first new policy announcement of the campaign, the prime minister has unveiled a plan that would see 18-year-olds given the choice of a full-time military placement for 12 months or a scheme to volunteer for one weekend a month for a year.

The placement would be selective – with tests used to decide who is eligible – and involve working with the armed forces or in cyber defence.

The voluntary option would see young people spending 25 days with organisations such as the police, the fire service, the NHS, or charities that work with older isolated people.

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Mr Sunak said the new model would provide “life-changing opportunities for young people” and allow them to learn “real world skills”.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, the PM 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.”

The Tory party has also suggested National Service would cut crime, saying research shows volunteering can increase social responsibility.

The specifics of the plan would be established through a new Royal Commission – a type of advisory committee set up to investigate significant issues.

Conservative sources said that the commission would look at possible non-criminal sanctions for any teenagers who refused to take part in National Service.

Details such as exemptions from the scheme would also be established through this body.

National Service came into force in January 1949, and meant all physically fit males aged between 17 and 21 had to serve in one of the armed forces for an 18-month period, with the period lengthened in 1950 to two years.

It ended in 1960, though the last national servicemen were discharged in 1963.

The Conservatives estimate the programme would cost £2.5bn a year by 2029/30 funded with cash previously used for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion.

Responding, a Labour Party spokesperson said the announcement was “desperate” adding: “This is not a plan – it’s a review which could cost billions and is only needed because the Tories hollowed out the Armed Forces to their smallest size since Napoleon.”

Politics

Reform candidate resigns over ‘unacceptable’ social media comments

Published

4 hours ago

June 17, 2024

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Reform candidate resigns over 'unacceptable' social media comments

The Reform Party has accepted the resignation of one of its election candidates after “unacceptable” historical social media comments came to light.

Grant StClair-Armstrong, who was standing in Saffron Walden, the Essex constituency where Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was the most recent MP, tendered his resignation following reports in The Times that he had previously called on people to vote for the British National Party (BNP).

The newspaper reported that StClair-Armstrong posted a blog in 2010 in which he said: “I could weep now, every time I pick up a British newspaper and read the latest about the state of the UK. No doubt, Enoch Powell would be doing the same if he was alive. My solution … vote BNP!”

When The Times contacted Mr StClair-Armstrong about the comments, he said he had “no excuses”.

“I’ve got no excuses for that,” he said. “I think they’re a disgusting party. I don’t like the English Defence League. I don’t like them.”

Election latest: Pub registered as political party; Farage to launch Reform manifesto in Wales

The former candidate also said he would hand in his resignation, adding: “I don’t really see any alternative.”

A spokesperson for Reform told Sky News: “Mr StClair-Armstrong has tendered his resignation as a member of Reform UK due to the revelation of unacceptable historic social media comments and we have accepted his resignation.”

His resignation comes just a day before Nigel Farage is due to launch the party’s policies in South Wales on Monday afternoon.

Last week another Reform candidate apologised for an old internet post which said Britain should have “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality” instead of fighting the Nazis in the Second World War.

Ian Gribbin, who is standing in the East Sussex seat of Bexhill and Battle, told Sky News that he apologised and withdrew the comments “unreservedly”.

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He added that he was “upset” at how they had been “taken out of context”, saying his mother was the daughter of Russian Jewish people who fled persecution.

Rishi Sunak surprised his opponents when he called an election for 4 July, having previously hinted it would take place later in the autumn.

Responding to Mr Gribbin’s case at the time, Mr Farage said his party “ran out of time” to properly vet candidates.

The Reform leader claimed all parties “will suffer” from selection controversies because of the speed at which they had to pick people after the election was called.

The candidates standing in Saffron Walden are:

Conservatives – Kemi Badenoch
Independent – Erik Bonino
Green Party – Edward Gildea
Independent – Andrew David Green
Independent – Niko Omilana
Liberal Democrats – Smita Rajesh
Labour Party – Issy Waite
Reform – TBC

The candidates standing in Bexhill and Battle are:

Independent – Abul Azad
Labour – Christine Bayliss
Reform UK – Ian Gribbin
Independent Network – Nigel Jacklin
Liberal Democrat – Becky Jones
Green Party – Jonathan Kent
Party of Women – Julia Long
Conservative – Kieran Mullan
Independent – Jeff Newman
UK Independence Party – Colin Sullivan

Politics

SEC shoots down Ripple’s argument for a lower penalty

Published

8 hours ago

June 17, 2024

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SEC shoots down Ripple’s argument for a lower penalty

The SEC argued Ripple’s proposed lower civil penalty wouldn’t be enough, and there’s no comparison to its settlement with Terraform Labs.

Politics

Nigel Farage to launch ‘contract with the people’ in Wales following poll boosts

Published

10 hours ago

June 17, 2024

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Nigel Farage to launch 'contract with the people' in Wales following poll boosts

Nigel Farage will kick off Reform UK’s policies in South Wales on Monday, where he is poised to put pressure on the Tories over immigration and tax.

The Reform leader will launch his party’s “contract with the people” – which they will not call a manifesto – in Merthyr Tydfil to highlight “what happens to a country when Labour is in charge”.

The Senedd in Cardiff is the devolved legislature of Wales and is currently run by a Labour-administration.

The launch will follow a productive few days for Reform that saw his party overtake the Conservatives for the first time – prompting Mr Farage to declare his party the “opposition” to Labour.

Election latest: Pub registered as political party; Farage to launch Reform manifesto in Wales

His fortunes increased further after another poll by Survation for The Sunday Times showed the Tories could be reduced to just 72 seats in the next parliament, while a separate survey by Savanta for The Sunday Telegraph showed Reform up another three points.

Reform has consistently pushed the Conservatives to adopt a more hardline stance on immigration and tax cuts.

In a flavour of the policies that will be unveiled tomorrow, the party said earlier this month that it would like to see a tax on businesses who employ overseas workers.

This would see firms pay a higher 20% rate of national insurance for foreign workers, up from the current 13.8%.

Reform is also opposed to Labour’s plans to end private school tax exemptions, and wants the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, overseen by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, in order to use offshore processing centres for illegal immigrants and prevent them from claiming asylum.

Some Tory candidates and former MPs on the right of the party have been agitating for Mr Sunak to advocate for an exit from the ECHR – something he has been reluctant to do but has left the door open to.

Other Reform policies include offering vouchers to go private if you can’t see a GP in three days, scrapping interest on student loans, increasing police numbers, keeping “woke ideologies out of the classroom”, abolishing the TV licence fee, reforming the Lords and reducing “wasteful spending”.

Mr Farage used an article in The Sunday Telegraph to criticise Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, for an interview he gave to The Times on Friday in which he urged voters to reject the Reform leader’s “inflammatory language” and “dog whistle” politics.

In response, Mr Farage wrote: “If Lord Cameron is worried about damaging divisions, he should look a bit closer to home.

“The terminally divided Tory party has proved itself incapable of effective government over the past 14 years – and is set to be even more hopelessly split in opposition, after it gets hammered on 4 July.”

The Reform leader will also turn his fire on Labour, saying he had chosen Wales to launch his “contract with the people” “because it shows everyone exactly what happens to a country when Labour is in charge”.

“Schools are worse than in England, NHS waiting lists are longer than in England, COVID restrictions were even tighter than in England and now Welsh motorists are being soaked by literally hundreds of speed cameras to enforce the deeply unpopular new 20mph blanket speed limit in towns and villages,” he said.

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“Meanwhile, the Tories have been the official opposition almost solidly since 2016 and have achieved zilch, which probably explains why we are neck-and-neck with them in the polls in Wales.

“So, if you want a picture of what the whole country will be like with a Starmer government and a feeble Conservative opposition, come to Wales and then hear us unveil a better future for all of Britain”.

Rishi Sunak has repeatedly said a vote for Mr Farage’s party amounted to handing a “blank cheque” to Labour, whom the polls predict will form the next government from 4 July.

The full list of candidates standing in Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare are: