Young won’t fight for Britain if country only offers unemployment, says Kemi Badenoch

Evening Standard

Young people will not fight for Britain if all it can offer them is unemployment, Kemi Badenoch has said.The Conservative leader told the Press Association her party wanted to make young people “believe in their country” as she set out plans to invest in making the UK ready for war.Her comments come after the head of the UK’s armed forces, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, warned “sons and daughters” would have to be ready to fight “if necessary” to deter Russian aggression.

Transcript

00:00What we're looking at is making sure that young people actually, you know, believe in

00:10their country. They feel that there's no hope. A lot of young people are actually leaving.

00:14Putting on a compulsory national service at a time when, you know, we're not creating employment

00:19for young people, I think is the wrong way around. Our offer for young people is to make sure they can

00:23get into jobs, believe in their country, see that this is a place that gives them opportunity,

00:27hope where they're able to start a family, buy a home. That's why we have policies to abolish

00:32stamp duty. That's what we need to do right now. Show them that there is hope. Then they'll

00:36want to fight for their country. But if we're not giving them anything except youth unemployment,

00:40why should they believe in us?

00:42Sons and daughters, colleagues, veterans will all have a part to play, to build, to serve

00:50and if necessary, to fight. And more families will know what sacrifice for our nation means.

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