The UK is “falling behind” its allies in preparing for war and should be looking to countries with military conscription for inspiration, a former defence minister told The i Paper.
While military insiders insist that conscription is still very far off in the UK, they said the country is now “prioritising a whole-of-society approach to resilience, reconnecting the public with those who serve.”
Tobias Ellwood, who served as defence minister between 2017 and 2019, said the UK is “now behind” France and Germany, which both recently introduced voluntary military service schemes.
Shorts
They are not alone. With the growing threat from Russia, a number of European countries have introduced conscription or other military service models in recent years. These include Lithuania, Sweden and Latvia, which brought back mandatory military service in 2015, 2018 and 2024 respectively.
