GET into uniform is Rishi Sunak’s message to first-time voters as his struggling election campaign took a militaristic turn today.

The Prime Minister announced that a re-elected Conservative government would bring back conscription, forcing teenagers into the armed services.

Eighteen-year-olds would have the alternative of doing compulsory service in their communities at weekends, he said, launching a policy unlikely to overcome the Tories’ enormous polling deficit among the young.

The proposal attracted opposition and ridicule in equal measure.  The Labour Party claimed that the out-of-the-blue plan was down to the Tories having hollowed out the armed forces.

The party called the announcement “another desperate £2.5-billion unfunded commitment” from the Tories.

“This is not a plan — it’s a review which could cost billions and is only needed because the Tories hollowed out the armed forces to their smallest size since Napoleon.”

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German pointed out that “army recruitment propaganda targets families with income of £10,000 a year. “

“We know who’ll be conscripted under Sunak’s policies — it won’t be the Eton Rifles,” she said.

Labour national executive member Jess Barnard said: “After decades of austerity and burdening young people with debt, the Tories would do well to consider why so many young people reject their out-of-touch party.

“Claims of Britain’s young people lacking ‘British values’ is yet another desperate divide-and-rule tactic, by a political tradition with nothing to offer young and working-class people except war.

“Truly affordable housing, education and the prospect of secure green jobs, not outdated conscription laws, are the policies we need.”

The Peace Pledge Union also committed to resisting the scheme.

Geoff Tibbs said: “This is a transparent attempt by the government to whip up everyday militarism and nationalist fervour in support of their reckless foreign policy, ahead of the general election.

“With the UK’s military spending and nuclear arsenal growing fast, this move sends another provocative signal to Russia and China, which can only make the world more unsafe.”

Co-leader of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvie accused the Prime Minister of scraping the barrel.

“Even by Rishi Sunak’s standards, this proposal is absurd, immoral and desperate. It has no place in a modern democracy,” he said.

The GMB union warned that the scheme could cost jobs in charities and businesses.

National secretary Rachel Harrison said: “This is a desperate gimmick from a Conservative Party that has a terrible track record on helping young people into work.

“Now the Tories want to impose unpaid labour on young workers.”

Claudia Webbe MP said: “This is desperation on the part of the Tories - and how revealing that Labour's only objection to yet another attack on our freedoms is on the basis of cost.

"Britain’s young people are more socially, politically and internationally aware than the Tories would have you believe. The idea that they can be somehow ‘whipped into shape’ with a sharp dose of discipline is fascism.

"This plan is just plain wrong. If a government ever gets near implementing it, we must robustly oppose and resist."

Conscription into the military was abandoned in 1960.   

When the chief of the general staff, Sir Patrick Sanders, called earlier this year for the formation of a citizens’ army to fight Russia, he was immediately slapped down by the premier, making this a screeching U-turn for Mr Sunak.

But today the Tories claimed that “only by nurturing our shared culture and fostering a sense of duty can we preserve our nation and values for decades to come.

“This is an investment in both the character of young people and our security,” it said in a statement, indicating that a degree of attitude engineering is the intention.

In a concession to reality, Home Secretary James Cleverley ruled out jailing recalcitrant teenagers who declined to be conscripted, doubtless aware that the prisons are already overflowing, but said there will be “sanctions for teenagers who do not take part.”

Mr Cleverley also suggested that the scheme could be funded by cracking down on tax avoidance, which would certainly be a Tory novelty.

In a rare sign of clear water between the two major parties, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s new-formed plans for teenagers were more benign — he proposed extending the right to vote to 16 and 17-year-olds.