Young people from Generation Z would fight for Britain in a war, MPs and ex-military leaders believe, despite fears that only one in 10 of them would take up arms.
Polling has suggested that only 11 per cent of British Gen Z – those aged 18 to 27 – would risk their lives for their country in war, with two fifths of those questioned saying they would never fight.
The Armed Forces are currently trying to tackle a recruitment crisis, with Sir Keir Starmer saying he would be prepared to send British troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, a former Nato deputy supreme allied commander, has called for the UK to consider reintroducing conscription in response to Donald Trump’s refusal to help Western allies.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith believes polling that shows young people’s unwillingness to fight can be “over-read” and says he does not feel it indicates any Government recruitment drive could be hampered.
Duncan Smith, who served as a captain in the Scots Guards, told The i Paper: “Back in the 1930s something convinced Hitler that Britain would not fight, with a debate held in the Oxford Union on the subject of this.
“It was passed by a majority. The motion that was passed was ‘This house would not fight for King and country.’
“Similar sort of generation. The interesting thing is they were amongst the first to join up when war came.”
The poll for The Times, carried out with YouGov and Public First, showed a “peculiar level of anti-British indoctrination” of young people by the left, Duncan Smith argued. He pointeed to parliamentary democracy, global trade and the defeat of fascism as positives Britain had brought to the world.
If the UK were embroiled in another major war which threatened the country, he believes British young people would fight.
“When push comes to shove and your country is under threat, and your values are under threat. What will you do?” he said. “The answer is you will defend them – and I have no doubt that’s what will happen.”
He also called for recruitment of new soldiers to be returned to the military after Government contractor Serco won a £1.5bn deal for Armed Forces hiring.
He added: “If he [Starmer] wants to expand the Army, he better put the Army back in charge of recruitment. You need human people who are in the Army to talk to would-be recruits, to show young kids what the Army could bring for them.”
Half of young people cited in a recent survey said that Britain is a racist country and was stuck in the past, while Gen Z’ers The i Paper spoke to in London rejected the concept of conscription.
Zia Khan, 18, a student, said: “You wouldn’t want to go into a battle. You’d rather wage a more political side of the issue and try and figure it out without the need for combat.
“A lot of people, from my perspective, don’t really understand the reason why me here in this comparatively safer environment, would have to go to a war somewhere else, to put my life at risk.
“As much as it is talk of conscription, I don’t think that [will ever happen]. The public outcry for it would be too great. So many people would decline.”
Daniel Kelly, an 18-year-old student, said: “I don’t feel enough national pride to die for my country. I don’t think I want to die in any war. I think that [conscription] is quite scary. I wouldn’t be very happy.”
Gabriel Trive, 22, a student, said he felt he would fight for his country if the cause was just, but described conscription as a completely alien concept for his generation.
“With the way politics looks at the moment, I don’t have a lot of faith in our politicians,” he said. “So I think I’d be unlikely to feel really convinced to fight for them or for the country.
“I wouldn’t want to be conscripted. I have a life that I enjoy and want to carry on with, and I think a lot of people of my generation would feel the same.
“I think it would take something really dramatic on the world stage to change Gen Z’s mind about it.”
Labour MP Calvin Bailey, a member of the Commons Defence Committee, served for 24 years in the RAF and led the 2021 air evacuation of Afghanistan. He believes young people understand the threats of the modern world “sometimes better than the rest of us”.
The MP for Leyton and Wanstead has advocated for greater diversity in the Armed Forces and spoken previously of his close friendship with the brother of Stephen Lawrence, the teenager murdered in a racist attack in south London in 1993.
“We can all see how dictators like Putin are using narrow nationalism, attacks on dissent and minorities, control over information, and military aggression to threaten the freedoms we hold dear,” he said.
“What is lacking is trust that people in power can genuinely defend these freedoms, and we can only rebuild that trust through leadership.
“If we fail, we will fling society into the hands of the far right and present an open door to the likes of Putin, who are alike in exploiting and magnifying divisions for personal gain.”
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former colonel, tank commander and chemical weapons expert, said lots of young people, including his own son, wanted to join the Army, but “dreadful” outsourced recruitment was deterring would-be recruits.
He also called for more use of the “massive untapped source” of Armed Forces reservists, adding that regiments would have to send these to Ukraine if the UK were to deploy a substantial peacekeeping force.
“Young men and women in this country have marched to the sound of the drums whenever they’ve been asked – First World War, Second World War,” he said. “I have absolutely no doubt, if push comes to shove, that the young men and women in this country will fight for it.
But if we have to go to war with Russia, conscription will happen. And, if the facts on Gen Z are right, then conscription might be the answer.”
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