Compulsory National Service Bill

[Disco_Destroyer]

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/uk-government-stop-the-national- service-bill-2013-14

UK Government: Stop the National Service Bill 2013-14


Petition by
Debbie Sayers
Truro, United Kingdom


Currently there is a Private members Bill presented by Mr Philip Hollobone MP that is passing to its second reading in the house of commons that asks, the government to pass a law to provide a system of national service for young persons.

We the undersigned do not want our children and grandchildren to be forced to undertake mandatory conscription or service in to any system that requires them by law to submit to training or residential activity, that is not optional and carries a criminal penalty for non compliance. We do not support any attempts to force young people between the ages of 18-26 in to any training that carries the option of military style training or conscription in to the military for any reason that is not voluntary.

It is unacceptable to force any person to engage in training that has mandatory residential elements, military training and or actual service in the military without the ability to refuse, without placing themselves in a position of having to break the law and gaining a criminal record. We do not want our children and grandchildren to fight and die in wars, or in training that they or we have no control over.

We ask that the Private Members Bill, The National Service Bill 2013-14 Presented by Mr Philip Hollobone be rejected in its entirety and that our government reassure us that non voluntary service and any residential or military style training, or service will always be a freedom of choice and not a system of conscription imposed upon UK citizens, especially young people, who should be able to choose their own futures.

[TonyGosling]

Kettering’s Conservative MP Philip Hollobone, who sponsored the bill, is convinced that some form of service for youngsters, be it charitable work, care for the elderly, work linked to the NHS or participation in the armed forces, would help instil a greater sense of ‘self-respect, personal reliance, discipline and behaviour’ into society.
“I believe that the introduction of a modern form of national service would prove popular with the public and be of immense benefit to the young people who take part,” he explained.
The scope of the scheme would include ‘instruction in personal financial budgeting, household bills, nutrition, cooking, time-keeping, life skills, tolerance towards others, treating elderly and disabled people with dignity and respect’ and teaching in basic aspects of the law relating to the most common offences involving young people.
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/irrational-service-compulsor y-national-service-bill-to-hit-parliament-in-2014-8805449.html

Youth unemployment has remained stubbornly high this year, with the number rising by 9,000 from February to April this year.
Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics estimates that the number of young people in work fell by 77,000 to 2.6 million over the same period. The state of youth unemployment in the UK is beaten only by Spain and Greece, according to the OECD.
With nearly a million young people out of work, HuffPostUK has gathered Britain's business and economic experts to offer their own ideas on how to get young people into jobs. And in a political debate full of uncosted platitudes, how would they fund it?
Diane Coyle, former Treasury adviser and head of Enlightenment Economics, calls for a government guarantee of education, training, an apprenticeship or a job for any young person out of work for over four months.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/12/youth-unemployment-_n_39117 54.html

[fish5133]

Several years back I told my kids they would possibly be offered, in the future, the chance to have their student loan cancelled for signing up in the military for a couple of years-- because the military would be short of boots on the ground cannon fodder.