National Service

The Labour party pledges apprenticeship places for all 16 and 17 year olds who want it, and a guarantee of a job, training or work experience for every young person aged 18-24.

What do the Tories pledge? The return of National Service. Now they want to take us back to the 50s!

John Rentoul spells out very well the problem with this plan.

It is not just the £800m price tag; there is something dated and illiberal about the idea that the entire nation's cohort of 16-year-olds should be told what to do by the post-bureaucratic bureaucracy for three weeks of their summer holidays.

If you are a 16 year old which party would you want to win: a party who is pledging to give 16-year-olds the vote, or a party who is pledging to force you to do three weeks of National service during your summer holidays? Or, more pertinent to this election, if you are a sympathetic 18-year-old who would you vote for?

I think we can assign cameron's National Service to the bin of "unworkable policies".