Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister

[President Merkin]

Why fo the right hate the young so much?

If I were 18 today, staring down the barrel of ££££ tuition fees, crippling rents, little to no prospect of ever buying a house, no freedom to live & work in Euroe & I'd already sacrificed two of my formative years to protect the older generation I would be telling you to poke your national service up your pipe.

If I were a parent of a teenager and I am, I would be doing the same. I can only surmise, he's gone full Tonto & has laid off a massive bet on electoral oblivion.

[Mr Penguin]

Is Nicky Morgan looking for a job?

[bitchstewie]

President Merkin said:

Why fo the right hate the young so much?

If I were 18 today, staring down the barrel of ££££ tuition fees, crippling rents, little to no prospect of ever buying a house, no freedom to live & work in Euroe & I'd already sacrificed two of my formative years to protect the older generation I would be telling you to poke your national service up your pipe.

If I were a parent of a teenager and I am, I would be doing the same. I can only surmise, he's gone full Tonto & has laid off a massive bet on electoral oblivion.

To be fair they seem to hate everyone.

You saw Brexit was built on some weird harking back to the "good old days" of blue passports and vegetables by the pound.

This is just the same rose tinted horsest that everything was better "back in my day" that appeals to some people.

[119]

[redacted]

[S600BSB]

Mr Penguin said:

James Cleverly is the best dressed politician. He should give Rishi some tips.

Indeed - has a decent tailor. Good man.

[Elysium]

p1stonhead said:

I’m 100% convinced that he’s trying to bury the Tory party for the next ten years.

Even calling the election was suicide, but talking of national service? They’re absolutely fked.

Sounds very conspiracy tin foil hat but this can’t be all a genuine attempt to win.

I think he is actually trying to reduce the extent of his loss.

He knows he is very likely to lose this election and that there is little he can do to win over the voters that have gone to Labour. He is also unlikely to want to be remembered as the leader with the worst election loss in Conservative Party history.

The existential threat to the Conservatives is Reform UK. He needs to tempt some of the Reform voters back to his party and the best way to achieve this is through policies that appeal specifically to very traditional conservatives.

I expect a lot more of this.

[President Merkin]

Crosses my mind it's a land grab intended to appeal to the unthinking Reform drones. I wonder if there are any other recent example of the Tories bumbling into catastrophic policy in an effort to appease a relativey small number of outré headbangers.

[bitchstewie]

Risky though as I expect just as it may pull in some of the Reform vote it might also be enough of a nudge for some of the undecided voters who might have given them the benefit of the doubt.

[119]

I still don't doubt they are all fking wasters.

[President Merkin]

Not risky, incredibly stupid. At a stroke, you've alienated any semblance of a youth vote & swept up the parents with them & likely all for another round of never works right wing loony appeasement.

It feels like Corbyn's free broadband, somethig superficially popular but ends up reinforcing the weakness of the brand. Corbyn's internet thing shored up the argument that Labour were profligate, frittering money away on something people should pay for themselves. Nat service is the equivalent, suggesting the Tories fundamentally have nothing to say on deeply entrenched economic & social problems in society but are willing to sell your kids down the road for a handful of votes in marginal constituencies

[bitchstewie]

Oh I think it's utterly bonkers regardless of the reasons but if the Reform theory is why he's done it I think that's especially risky.

[SWoll]

At the end of the day the grey vote is a not insignificant number, and in an election where a lot of people appear to be apathetic towards either big party, getting the group with by far the highest turnout and likelihood of voting for your party back onside could potentially make a significant difference?

Whilst the polling shows Labour having a significant lead, the question will be whether those people actually turn up to vote with nice weather, footie on the telly etc.

[Dingu]

[redacted]

[Leithen]

Have it on good authority that Sunak’s next policy announcement is going to be the introduction of Gas Lighting.

[S600BSB]

bhstewie said:

Risky though as I expect just as it may pull in some of the Reform vote it might also be enough of a nudge for some of the undecided voters who might have given them the benefit of the doubt.

More importantly, it will encourage younger voters to actually vote on the 4th July! Very silly policy.

[Dingu]

James (not so) Cleverly, a Tory MP talking about getting people out of their bubble is one of the stupidest, funniest, least self aware things I’ve ever heard.

Maybe all Tory MPs and members need to give it a go first, get with the real world a bit.

[SWoll]

President Merkin said:

Why fo the right hate the young so much?

If I were 18 today, staring down the barrel of ££££ tuition fees, crippling rents, little to no prospect of ever buying a house, no freedom to live & work in Euroe & I'd already sacrificed two of my formative years to protect the older generation I would be telling you to poke your national service up your pipe.

If I were a parent of a teenager and I am, I would be doing the same. I can only surmise, he's gone full Tonto & has laid off a massive bet on electoral oblivion.

Slightly off topic but apprenticeships are what to look at. My lad starts his degree apprenticeship in Sept having gotten his A-Levels last summer. 4 years, get's paid £25k a year first year with annual increases and after those 4 years will have real world experience, £100k+ in pay and a free degree from a decent University into the bargain.

Living and working in Europe is also still very much an option, just not quite as easy as it used to be.

[abzmike]

So this national service will be unpaid, compulsory but not sanctioned if young people don’t want to do it, or an alternative of compulsory volunteering, not sanctioned if you d people don’t want to do it… they really havn’t thought about it past the first line. If young people want to volunteer to do good deeds for charities or whatever they can co that today, in fact some probably are right now - but this whole plan is bonkers. Just as well there is zero chance of it happening.

[anonymous-user]

I don't think the motivate relates to picking off Reform voters. If they wanted to do that properly, they could have offered Tice a deal - something like a referendum on electoral reform in return for standing down their candidates in seats the Conservatives could win. I think that would have been attractive enough for Tice to accept, particular if they could help draft the question.

As to the actual reason behind this policy, looking around on Google, it seems there is a 'think tank' called Onward, which is very close to Sunak, who have been pushing the idea of a "modern" National Service for some time. I think they have been pitching the idea to Sunak and I would imagine, considering his position in the polls, he just decided to roll the dice.

[SWoll]

S600BSB said:

bhstewie said:

Risky though as I expect just as it may pull in some of the Reform vote it might also be enough of a nudge for some of the undecided voters who might have given them the benefit of the doubt.

More importantly, it will encourage younger voters to actually vote on the 4th July! Very silly policy.

It won't as doesn't affect them. Turnout in that demographic is unlikely to better the 50-60% seen previously, although more of that group may well vote Labour this time around.