UK'S YOUTH MUST "TOUGHEN UP' TO COMBAT GLOBAL THREAT

Grant Shapps: We have to build 'national resilience...in increasingly dangerous world'

- Sam Lister

THE return of National Service will "toughen up" Britain's youth and boost our country's "resilience", says Grant Shapps.

The Defence Secretary insisted recruiting 30,000 youths for a year-long stint in the Armed Forces is what the country and military "sorely need".

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Red Sea attacks and conflict in the Middle East show things are only moving in one direction, he warned.

Mr Shapps said the National Service placement planned by the Conservatives is an important step in building up the country's resilience.

Writing in the Daily Express, Mr Shapps said: "We are in the most unstable world I've seen since the height of the Cold War.

"Things are only moving in one direction. The world is becoming more uncertain, not less. National Service is what our country and our military sorely need.

"So Britain's going to toughen up. Because our adversaries certainly are." Mr Shapps said the General Election is a choice between "human weathervane"

Sir Keir Starmer who has not committed a timetable for increasing defence spending to 2.5% of national income - and Rishi Sunak who is committed to the defence of the realm.

The Conservative plan to force 18-year-olds to choose between a full-time placement in the Armed Forces for 12 months or spending one weekend a month for a year working in the community was the first bold offering of the General Election campaign.