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The UK government has dismissed a NATO ally’s suggestion that European countries should introduce conscription.
Latvian President, Edgars Rinkevics, said his European neighbours should ‘absolutely’ follow his country’s lead by increasing military funding and conscripting citizens into the armed forces.
‘Strong reassurances [are] one thing’, he told Sky News. ‘But another thing is other European governments [have] to make sure that we all get stronger.’
With Russia gaining ground in Ukraine, and the Baltic nations fearing invasion themselves, Latvia brought back conscription in 2023.
Applying to men aged between 18 and 27, the aim is to have 61,000 combat-ready troops split between active and reserve units.
The question of conscription has loomed over Britain in the last year, amid warnings from top generals that the UK military is too small to last more than a couple of months in a full-scale war.
While the British government is vocal about the threat post by Russia, and the need to ‘step up’ in the case of US military withdrawal from Europe, it’s not keen on conscription.
Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said: ‘We’re not considering conscription, but, of course, we’ve announced a major increase in defence expenditure a couple of weeks ago and we do have to recognise that the world has changed here.
‘The phrase ‘step up’ is used a lot in recent weeks and Europe does have to step up in terms of its own defence.
‘President Trump isn’t actually the first president to say that, but he said it more loudly and with more force than his predecessors. So, I think we’ve got to recognise that moment.’
When the Conservative Party proposed national service for young people as a policy in the last general election, Labour dismissed it as a ‘gimmick’.
Now the Conservatives are not so sure themselves. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘We’re not going to, obviously, write our manifesto now. So, I’m not going to recommit to things that were in the previous manifesto.’
But countries on the fringes of Europe see things differently. Of the eight European NATO countries that have mandatory conscription, five have borders with Russia.
Latvia’s runs for 109km, and it makes them feel exposed. Last year, foreign minister Krisjanis Karins said they wanted to achieve a ‘state of preparedness’ that would dissuade the Kremlin from invading.
President Rinkevics told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: ‘Seeing what is happening in the world, the decision that we took – many other European countries need to follow that.
‘A lot of people are a little bit nervous.’
Various forms of conscription exist in Austria, Belarus, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently announced a target of increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, then raising that further to 3% in the next parliament.
He told MPs: ‘We do need to step up and lead Europe, we’ve been saying that for a very long time.
‘All European countries need to do more, and now is the moment to do so.’
The UK hasn’t had conscription since the last batch was drafted in 1960, with those recruits leaving service in 1963.
It had been introduced in 1939 at the outbreak of World War Two, first applying to men aged between 20 and 22, before being extended to men between 18 and 51 years old.
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During World War One, conscription initially applied to single men aged 16 to 40. The upper limit was later raised to 51, with married men also eligible.
Women could find themselves drafted if conscription was ever re-introduced in the UK.
More than 640,000 women served in the armed forces during World War Two, with many more driving vehicles and servicing as nurses on the front lines.
Conscription was limited to single woman, between the ages of 20 and 30, who did not have children. They were not allowed to serve in fighting roles.
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