Rishi Sunak rules out sporting exemptions for national service

Premier League footballers and other top athletes would be refused exemptions under Rishi Sunak’s vision for a new national service scheme.

Senior Conservatives sources ruled out the possibility of any exceptions as top-tier football clubs said privately they would oppose the new regime.

Those involved in the Conservative plan announced over the weekend pointed out other countries regularly include athletes in national service.

Son Heung-min, Paolo Maldini and Eric Cantona have been among high-profile players called up under previous forms of military service in their respective countries.

One senior figure said the new pre-election policy would have “more flexibility” but “it applies to everyone”, with no exceptions. “What a brilliant opportunity to have people from all backgrounds mixing,” one figure said. “It’s 25 days a year and there would be flexibility built in as there is in other countries.”

The prospect of sporting stars being called up alongside the rest of society would be an “amazing opportunity for integration”, the Conservative source said.

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

The Prime Minister made the comments after vowing to bring back national service for 18-year-olds in his first policy announcement of the general election campaign.

Under the plan, due to be fully in place by 2029-30 if Sunak wins the election, all 18-year-olds will be legally required to take up either a 12-month placement in the Armed Forces or cyber defence - or give up the equivalent of one weekend a month to volunteer in their communities.

Asked on The Daily T podcast with Camilla Tominey and Kamal Ahmed whether he would have opted for a 12-month military placement or spending one weekend a month volunteering in his community under his mandatory scheme, Mr Sunak chose the former.

“If I had my time now, I would do the military one, and it’s actually one of my regrets that I didn’t do more of it when I was younger,” he said.

His national service scheme is aimed at instilling a “shared sense of purpose” in youngsters, and he told The Daily T: “One of the great privileges in this job is to spend more time with our Armed Forces. That’s what I would do now. The volunteering I did when I was younger was more on the civic side.”