A shocking poll carried out for GB News finds that just 14 of Britons aged 18 to 24 would be willing to fight for Britain if they were drafted into World War III. It was revealed that %.
Gen Z was most likely to say they would do anything possible to avoid fighting in a potential conflict.
More than two in five (43%) of respondents aged 18 to 24 claimed they would do anything to avoid joining the front line.
However, 14% claimed they would only fight for Britain if necessary.
British Army in the midst of a conscription crisis
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Gen Z is most likely to avoid conflict, with 40% of respondents between the ages of 25 and 49 doing the same.
This percentage dropped sharply from 28% for those aged 50 to 64 to 12% for those aged 65 and older.
Just 17% of respondents said they were willing to fight for Britain, with men, Tory voters and Brexit supporters leading the way at 27%, 32% and 31%.
The overall figure is only slightly higher than the 14% who would do so if forced to do so, but much lower than the 30% who would avoid potential global conflict altogether.
Two in five Remain voters, almost half of Labor voters and 36% of women said they would do everything possible to avoid conscription.
Latest developments:
New GB News poll reveals just 17% of Brits would be willing to fight for Britain in a world war
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Speculation about British military recruitment emerged after outgoing Chief of Staff Sir Patrick Saunders said Britain should “train and equip” a “national army”.
Armed Forces Minister James Heapy responded: “No one has ever mentioned that.” [conscription], no one thinks about it. CGS didn’t say that, it’s all nonsense. ”
Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson added: “The British Army has the proud position of being a volunteer force. As I said earlier, there are no plans for conscription.”
Conscription was enforced throughout Britain during both World War I and World War II.
Compulsory National Service was introduced in 1949, requiring all men between the ages of 17 and 21 to serve in one of the armed forces for 18 months.
There is great reluctance among Gen Z to participate in global conflicts.
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The recruit will then remain on the reserve list for an additional four years.
National service ended in 1960, and the last man was discharged three years later.
The British military is currently facing a recruitment crisis, with predictions that there will only be 72,500 fully trained soldiers in the British Army by 2025.
While this number is only a fraction lower than the current number of enlisted members, it is well below the more than 100,000 fully trained, full-time members in 2010.
Despite Whitehall denying speculation about conscription, there is an increasingly widespread view that the army is too small.
“The military is too small and too much is being asked of its resources and size,” one defense official told the Telegraph.
The Army is projected to have only 72,500 fully trained soldiers by 2025.P.A.However, the UK remains one of only 11 NATO countries to spend 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.
In terms of per capita contributions, Poland topped the list at 3.9%, followed closely by the United States and Greece.
The UK’s contribution to GDP in 2023 was 2.1%, also behind Latvia, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Lithuania and Estonia.
PeoplePolling conducted the survey for GB News on January 25 and the sample size included 1,648 UK voters.
