GB News host Bev Turner has been left fuming at the pledge from the Prime Minister that stated if the Conservatives were re-elected they would bring back national service.
Eighteen-year-olds would be able to apply for one of 30,000 full-time military placements or volunteering one weekend a month carrying out a community service.
Rishi Sunak said he believed bringing back compulsory service across the UK would help foster the "national spirit" that emerged during the pandemic.
Speaking about the promise on GB News, Bev said: "At first I had a moment where I thought 'oh brilliant. This is just priming the next generation, prepare yourself that you may have to go to war and something is on the horizon'.
Bev Turner fumed at the idea
GB News
"However, you look at the details of it and it is pathetic. It is saying that if you get through certain criteria, as in you are not overweight and you are fit enough, you can do a year in the military. You can do it anyway, if you don't want to do that you can spend one weekend a month helping your local community.
"Again you can do that anyway? There is going to be no way that this can be mandated, what a pointless headline grabber. It is hideous."
She later added: "Do you know what else this has done? And it makes me so angry, I have three teenagers in my house and do you know what they said over the weekend?
"'We are now worried that we are going to be sent to war'. We have a teenage mental health problem and now they've seen headlines and TikTok saying 'National Service', so you have just impacted more anxiety on these kids."
Former Labour adviser Scarlett MccGwire argued that it was a good idea, but "half-baked".
She explained: "I absolutely agree that we have to do something. What they need is skilling, they need something to get them out. You are right that this is a half-baked idea.
Rishi Sunak has pledged to implement 'compulsory' national service as part of his manifestoGetty"David Cameron had the big society, Gordon Brown talked about it. This is not a new idea, that 16 to 18 year olds should be doing something and when I was young, a lot of people did VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas).
"The whole problem is, of course, what do you actually want to do? How do we do it?"
The Conservatives want the first teenagers to take part in a pilot from September 2025, with details to be established by a Royal Commission.
The Government have pledged to allow young people to learn about cyber security, logistics, procurement, or civil response operations.
Scarlett MccGwire agreed with the idea
GB News
Speaking about the pledge, Sunak said: "This is a great country but generations of young people have not had the opportunities or experience they deserve and there are forces trying to divide our society in this increasingly uncertain world.
"I will bring in a new model of national service to create a shared sense of purpose among our young people and a renewed sense of pride in our country."
He added the move would help young people learn "real world skills, do new things and contribute to their community and our country".
