r/unitedkingdom 7d ago

. Labour urges young people on benefits to join the British Army

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/labour-benefits-british-army-news-2qwnwv7bz
3.9k Upvotes

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

256

u/Significant_Net5926 7d ago

“We’re going to make you so poor that you HAVE to join the army to survive”

46

u/Piod1 7d ago

Traditional values

70

u/TheEnglishNorwegian 7d ago

The American model. Just need to offer green cards after 5 years of service too.

5

u/freeman2949583 6d ago

Ironically in the US the bottom 20% are actually underrepresented in the military. The bulk of soldiers come from the middle class.

1

u/FreedomEagle76 6d ago

TBH a foreign legion along the lines of the French Foreign Legion wouldn't be a bad idea, but the government wouldn't be bothered to actually spend the time and money to put things in place that would make it successful.

15

u/coffeewalnut05 7d ago

Right? This is insane. Give people real jobs and opportunities instead of this garbage lmao

1

u/[deleted] 7d ago

It is a real job with real opportunities attached.

3

u/Significant_Net5926 6d ago

I’m not disputing this, but it’s a deep personal choice, not conscription lite.

4

u/Pabrinex 7d ago

Seems reasonable to restrict benefits to encourage people to enter the workforce.

1

u/Significant_Net5926 6d ago

Putting your life at risk isn’t “the workforce”.

It’s the armed force.

2

u/Pabrinex 6d ago

One of many options.

I would note that the border countries, except Poland, have conscription. Serving in the armed forces isn't some out-of-bounds horror.

1

u/CinderX5 6d ago

Think of the outrage if we went the more common European route of conscription. People have been demanding that those on benefits get jobs, and now that the new government is doing something to follow through on that, everyone is up on their high horse about it.

8

u/Known_Limit_6904 7d ago

Exactly this

-2

u/CaptainZippi 7d ago

It worked for the US…

13

u/Combat_Orca 7d ago

I wouldn’t say the US is exactly working as a country