The King’s Speech should have reintroduced national service, Tory MP says

The Government should have used the King’s Speech to reintroduce national service, ministers have heard.

Conservative MP Richard Drax, a former army officer, insisted that reintroducing the conscription programme could help people “who need a hand up”.

As MPs debated the Government’s agenda set out in the King’s Speech, South Dorset MP Mr Drax said: “One Bill I would like to have seen in the King’s Speech is one reintroducing national service for those who need a hand up. That number is sadly growing.

“We already spend billions of pounds on encouraging reliance on the state. Let’s spend that instead on instilling in people that life is about contributing, about service, and taking responsibility for one’s self.”

National service gradually ended in the late 1950s, following the introduction of conscription during the Second World War.

Centre-right think tank Onward recently suggested the introduction of a form of civic rather than military national service as a means of tackling what it described as the UK’s “growing youth crisis”.

Mr Drax also said he had “mixed feelings” about the King’s Speech, telling MPs: “With a year to go before an election I am always looking for red meat, certainly a far stronger narrative.”

No Bill alone could tackle the “huge challenges” facing the country, he said, adding: “What the nation is looking for is a healthy dose of common sense, a re-emergence of British values, and an end to all this wokey, politically correct nonsense that is corrupting all that we hold dear.

“A ban on smoking and the Orwellian driverless car are not top priorities either.

“The British people are crying out for a clear choice. For too long with high taxes and a bloated state we have aped the opposition benches spending money we simply do not have.”

He welcomed tougher sentencing, additional money for the armed forces and more medical staff.

He also appeared to welcome new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, but called for the industry to have lower taxes, adding “punitive taxes are hardly going to encourage companies to take such a risk”.

“Why wasn’t there a Bill to redraft the Climate Change Act 2008 which will simply impoverish us, and scrap all the green taxes,” he said, adding “I’m all for reducing carbon emissions, but not until the renewables are reliable and affordable.”