General Election 2024 National Service: Conservative government has been failing for years, young people say

Rishi Sunak’s recent D-Day blunder was just the ‘cherry on top’, and the last straw was ‘many, many years ago’, young people following this year’s election campaign have told NationalWorld. 

From the ‘voluntary yet mandatory’ national service to skipping D-Day celebrations, Rishi Sunak’s campaign for the general election has left young people baffled.

Imogen Morgan, 21, from Shropshire, said the state of the Tory party made her feel like reaching for stress relief. She said: “My friend has just got a cigarette out, which is kind of how I feel about the Conservative party.

“Younger and younger people are getting more into politics because the situation calls for it. There’s going to be a kickback against things that aren’t fair, [like] the state of the Conservative government right now. There’s an atmosphere of despair regarding it.”

The national service scheme, which could come in force by ‘the end of the next parliament’, would see young people to take part in a form of national service, such as the armed forces.

A 33-year-old teacher from Sheffield, who asked to remain anonymous, said the current government is referring to the scheme with the phrase ‘compulsory/voluntary’. She said: “That doesn’t exist. It's two opposite things.”

Troy Ocean, 22, from Hackney, East London, said: “I think this policy is trying to portray young people as the same kind of scapegoat as benefits scroungers, like young people just piggybacking on the state. 

“And that's not true. In fact, young people are being disastrously underserved and failed by this government. So I don’t think this is the last straw. I think the last straw was many, many years ago.

“Under this government, in the past 10 years, tuition fees have been tripled, getting on the housing ladder and even being able to find somewhere affordable enough to rent is pretty impossible. 

“Being forced to do something that they don't actually want to do is actually not going to be effective for those young people. And it’s neither going to achieve anything for those public services that they would be forced to work in.”

With rumours of an unlikely resignation on the Prime Minister’s part, National World has looked at the success of Rishi Sunak’s campaign. 

His recent D-Day blunder made him receive serious condemnations, with many wondering if this will end his campaign.

“I think he's doomed it already,” Imogen said. “It's just Rishi Sunak, he's just a bit of a joke. But I think beneath the joke is quite an insidious policy. I think him missing D-Day was just a little cherry on the top of the cake.”

When asked about whether the Labour party was the better option, Troy said Keir Starmer is relying on not being the Conservatives. 

“People are not voting Labour out of any kind of passion for the Labour Party or any kind of desire to see Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. Rather, people do not want to see the Conservatives have another day in government.”

In the poll tracker, Labour have kept a clear advantage, continuously increasing over the conservative party day by day.

Troy continued: “I don’t want to vote Labour. As a trans person, as a young person, as a student. People elsewhere across the country, I would quite honestly encourage them to vote for somebody else who is going to be a progressive voice, who is going to stand up. 

“I do not believe that the Labour Party are going to change anything about this country. They are going to make it slightly, slightly less deadly, but they're not going to make it more liveable.”

Daniel Stephen, 24, from Chorleywood, London, said: “I think the Tory government's failing not because of the D-Day blunder, it was already failing, and you could see that in the polls. 

“I think that's largely a result of the economic state of the country, since we're probably in the worst that we've ever been. But also because for the first time the Tory vote is split, largely because of social policies, where you've got really hard righters who have very, very different stances on matters like LGBT rights. 

“So I think for the first time in my life, we're going to have a chance of having Labour in government. So people should vote. If they don't, it's just a waste. 

“Whether their opinion is the same as mine or different, their opinion counts and they have the opportunity to affect this election.”