Sunak is right: National Service is just what Generation Z is crying out for

When I read about the Prime Minister’s move to create a community based National Service, I thought of the inscription on the Chindit war memorial outside the Ministry of Defence: “The boldest measures are the safest”.

The National Service scheme is bold, and could fill a clear generational need. Its strength lies in the integration of two memes: the national need to secure the safety of our country and the civic need to strengthen our communities.

Gen Z, the first cohort to participate, will get it. Their attitude will be: not you have to serve, but you get to serve. Challenge is what they are after. Their response to this challenge to serve in their communities will be an overwhelmingly positive one.

Labour’s kneejerk reaction, that it is a desperate coercive wheeze, giving red meat to the right wing of the Tory party, misses a powerful generational point. This is an opportunity for young people, at the most formative time of their active adult lives, to work together to achieve the common good for those they live amongst.

In my dialogue with Zennials (Millennials and Gen Z), one theme stands out. They do not trust institutions and do not want to be a part of someone else’s narrative. They reject being observers of projects handed down by politicians and community leaders; they want to participate in a story that they can shape and create.

If well implemented, this National Service project could achieve that. Its leaders need to draw them in at an early stage of the planning cycle and encourage their full participation in delivering a programme that meets the real needs of their communities.

This scheme has the potential to be an important contributory factor in the equipping of a generation in desperate need of social cohesion. They are the most connected yet at the same time as being the most isolated social group that we’ve ever known.

The Prime Minister is right to point out that this generation has not had the opportunities or experiences that they deserve. Spending weekends working together and meeting peers from different cultures and backgrounds could provide them with the experience of active engagement with others at a time when the mental issues caused by digital isolationism are exploding. This is a significant step for addressing the fraying of intergenerational social cohesion.

In addition to the volunteering programme, the 30,000 recruits to the military, will harness the tech savvy AI and cyber skills of this generation. This will have the dual benefits of strengthening the military and upskilling the participants for work prospects thereafter.

When the Prime Minister speaks of the need for us to do more for our young people, he is also right to stress that they have an important part to play in our country. At a time when we are all coming to realise the external threat to the nation and can see the serious needs within our own communities, our next generation will now have an effective life-shaping experience that will teach them that social obligations go side by side with entitlement.

The £2.5 billion expected annual price of the scheme is an excellent seed investment for the future and not a current cost to be saved. It equips a new generation to do good and to learn how to do well; to recognise that what we gain by working together is greater than what we lose by doing it alone.

The scheme will model a practical way for intergenerational cooperation. It will link the hindsight and wisdom of an experienced generation with the insight and creative values-driven energy of the next.

I have been hugely influenced by the South African concept of Ubuntu, “I am because of you”. This National Service scheme is a first step towards initiating lifelong involvement and care for the needs of others.

The economic, but above all social, benefits could make a significant difference in strengthening our society as we grapple with some of the unprecedented social and security issues of our time.

The National Service scheme is bold and a good first practical step in that direction.

Ken Costa is the author of The 100 Trillion Dollar Wealth Transfer: How the handover from Boomers to Gen Z will revolutionize capitalism