Doing what they do best! Gen Z share hilarious TikTok memes reacting to Rishi Sunak's national service as it's revealed 66% of MailOnline readers back 18-year-olds doing year-long military placement or 12 weekends of volunteering
Gen Z have taken the internet by storm with their hilarious memes in response to Rishi Sunak's national service announcement, as MailOnline can reveal 66 percent of our readers are in favour of the policy.
Writing in The Mail On Sunday, Mr Sunak unveiled plans which would see all school-leavers either serve in the Armed Forces for one year or spend 12 weekends a year volunteering with organisations such as the NHS or police.
The shock announcement has sparked a fierce debate across the political spectrum, but the Prime Minister said he believes it will help unite the country.
But Labour has called the plan 'desperate' and blasted the £2.5 billion expected cost of the project.
Today it can be revealed that in a poll of our readers, two thirds said they are in favour of the return of some form of national service.
Online Gen Z seem far from convinced, with many pointing out the significant sacrifices made to their education and university experiences during the pandemic.
Taking to TikTok and X, formally Twitter, they shared hilarious memes mocking the plans.
One user posted a short clip of Jack Grealish appearing confused as to how to make a confetti cannon go off.
Pointing it towards his body, he eventually does get the confetti out, but in the wrong direction. The poster wrote: 'Me when they give me my gun at national service.'
The Prime Minister today claimed 'people are really excited' about his plan to bring in national service for all 18-year-olds.
Speaking from Churchill China, a ceramics company in Stoke-on-Trent, Mr Sunak told reporters: 'People are really excited about national service, because that is an example of the bold action that we're prepared to take and people can see that that's going to be transformational for our country.
'And as I've said all the MPs that I've been spending time with over the last four days are working their socks off for their communities.'
Rishi Sunak insisted he has not given up on young people as he described his national service plan as 'transformational' and 'incredibly positive for young people'.
He told reporters: 'I think providing young people, regardless of their background, where they're from, where they live, with the opportunities that national service will provide, the skills that it will give them later in life, will be hugely positive for them.
'And at the same time, foster a culture of service in our country that will make our societies more cohesive, and strengthen our security and resilience as a country.'
He added: 'I think service is a really wonderful thing and it gives people purpose. So I view national service as something that's really positive and beneficial for people.
'Giving them the opportunity to do that and contribute to their communities in this way, be part of something that's bigger than any individual, that I think will become a rite of passage and something very meaningful for our entire country will be over time, people will look back on it and look back on their time doing it with enormous fondness and pride.'
But his political opponents have branded the plan a sign of his 'desperation'.
Military roles in the proposed national service scheme will be 'very competitive and selective', Mr Sunak told the crowd
The Prime Minister was welcomed to Staffordshire by MP Jonathan Gullis, who represents Stoke-on-Trent
Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan said the plan, which is expected to cost £2.5 billion if ever implemented, is 'desperate'.
Ms Morgan said: 'What's wrong in places like North Shropshire, is that we don't have enough young people to work in those skilled jobs that we already have, and dragging them away to do national service will make the economy much worse.
'We want to see people trained in apprenticeships to do the jobs that we need filling.'
A spokesperson for Labour responded to the announcement, made over the weekend, and said: 'This is another desperate, £2.5bn unfunded commitment from a Tory party which already crashed the economy, sending mortgages rocketing, and now they're spoiling for more.
'This is not a plan – it's a review which could cost billions and is only needed because the Tories hollowed out the armed forces to their smallest size since Napoleon. Britain has had enough of the Conservatives, who are bankrupt of ideas, and have no plans to end 14 years of chaos.'
