DOUGLAS Ross has defended a plan to reroute replacement EU funding to pay for a return of national service for 18-year-olds.
Rishi Sunak has revealed proposals to force all 18-year-olds to carry out either a full-time placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spend one weekend a month “volunteering” in their community.
To pay for this, the Tories have said they will use £1.5 billion from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which was created in 2021 and the UK Government said it “succeeds the old EU structural funds”.
The party claimed it would “go straight to local places” right across the UK.
At a campaign event at The Kelpies on Monday, the Scottish Conservative leader was asked by The National how he could justify rerouting this funding when most of his voters backed remaining in the EU.
He said: “Well this is part of the funding for this policy but, of course, there’s going to be a royal commission set up to look at the detail as well so I think it’s right that the royal commission has time to take in views from the military, from the civic world and across the political spectrum to have a look at the opportunities that will be possible with this suggestion.”
Pressed on whether he felt it was a sensible use of the money, he simply repeated his answer saying it would not completely fund the scheme.
National service was introduced in 1947 after World War Two by Clement Attlee’s Labour government.
It meant men between the ages of 17 and 21 had to serve in the armed forces for 18 months. The mandatory scheme came to an end in 1960.
Ross – who said national service would be a “great opportunity” for young people – also dodged the question of what he felt would be appropriate punishment for young people who don’t comply with the national service requirement.
The Conservatives have not yet specified what the consequences would be for those who don’t take part, but Home Secretary James Cleverly said there would be non-criminal sanctions.
Asked what he would deem appropriate punishment, Ross said: “It is an opportunity for young people to get involved in communities and bring communities together and that’s even more important here in Scotland where we’ve had a decade of division from the nationalists who have continued their obsession with independence despite losing the referendum in 2014, and all of the details of this will be discussed and debated by the royal commission.
“I think that’s the right way to take this forward.”
The Tories have said that while £1.5bn will come from the Shared Prosperity Fund, the other £1bn would be paid for through a “crack down on tax avoidance and evasion”.
The SNP have said they will oppose the national service plan, branding it “completely out of touch with families and young people in Scotland”.
Labour have said that national conscription “could cost billions and is only needed because the Tories hollowed out the armed forces to their smallest size since Napoleon”.
Elsewhere at the campaign event, Ross stood with activists holding up letters spelling “sack Matheson” as part of his effort to force Michael Matherson to quit as an MSP.
A Holyrood committee has recommended a 27-day Parliament suspension for the former health secretary as well as a 54-day loss of wages after he racked up data roaming charges of almost £11,000 on his parliamentary iPad.
Matheson initially claimed he had done this while using the device for work purposes on a family holiday to Morocco – but later confessed his teenage sons had used the device as a hotspot so they could watch football during the trip.
While Holyrood still has to vote on the sanctions to be imposed on Matheson, the Tories are also set to force a vote in Holyrood, calling on him to resign as the MSP for Falkirk West.
But the vote is unlikely to pass given the Scottish Greens have called it a “cynical” move.
Asked if he was worried his plan was going to fail, he said: “Well I hope every MSP considers their position on Wednesday because if they vote against our motion they are endorsing Michael Matheson’s actions.
“I’m certainly picking up right across the country people can’t understand why John Swinney is defending Michael Matheson.”
