The calls have grown louder in past months due to soaring tensions and concerns over the size of the UK Armed Forces. Germany and France are among the nations to have recently reintroduced new forms of military service to beef up their militaries, while other European nations continue to have conscription programmes. Retired logistics officer Mr Cross said he was not calling for conscription, but instead for options to serve in the Armed Forces as part of a national service programme.
He told Times Radio: “I understand there are something like 800,000 youngsters between the ages of about 18 and 25 who are not in work, not in training, not in education.
“We are short of soldiers, sailors and airmen. What are we doing paying these youngsters welfare money when we could be saying to them: ‘You’re going to join the military’?”
He admitted the military would struggle to welcome a significant number of young people on national service, but said: “We can do something and we can begin that process.”
France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have all launched or are preparing to launch voluntary military service schemes.
Poland — which has one of NATO’s biggest armies — is also seeking to strengthen its forces with plans that will see all men in the country undergo military training.
The UK has insisted it has no plans for military service or conscription, with its focus on developing the professional Armed Forces.
However, the Ministry of Defence earlier this year unveiled a new ‘gap year’ scheme offering under 25s the opportunity to experience life in the Armed Forces.
Latest official figures show between October and December 2025, there were 957,000 people aged 16 to 24 in the UK who were not in employment, education or training.
Mr Cross told Times Radio the British public need to “recognise” the Government is “probably going to have to pay more for defence and other things are going to have to suffer”, adding: “Every other generation has had to do it.”
He said a form of national service could help the country realise “the reality of the nature of the world we’re living in”.
The former Labour defence secretary, who led last year’s Strategic Defence Review, warned the UK is underprepared for war due to the “ever-expanding welfare budget”.
Britain has not had national service since 1960.