Rishi Sunak said his national service plan could become a new “rite of passage” which would restore pride in Britain.
The Prime Minister said he had been looking for ways to “restore that sense of patriotism, pride and cohesiveness in our society”.
Mr Sunak told workers at a factory in Milton Keynes: “It will become a new rite of passage that everyone goes through and bring us closer together.”
It could help develop “a greater sense of pride in what we stand for and what we are as a country”, he said.
One worker at the Niftylift cherry picker factory welcomed the national service proposal but asked how youngsters involved in so-called postcode gang wars would be separated.
“So this is something that will give kids a much more positive sense of identity and purpose and I actually think one of the other benefits of it is we will see that it will be able to reduce crime because we’ll be doing something really positive for young people instead.”
