Government plans to bring back mandatory national service have been branded ‘utter tosh’ by the leader of a Royal British Legion branch in Cumbria.

David Ferrel, 67, who chairs the Wath Brow RBL branch in West Cumbria, slammed the plans and claimed that if the goal is to bolster the army’s strength, mandatory military service for 18-year-olds would be counter-productive.

Young people would be given a choice between a full-time placement in the armed forces for 12 months or spending one weekend a month for a year “volunteering,” in their community, the Tories said in an announcement last week.

The Prime Minister said the policy would help unite society in an “increasingly uncertain world” and give young people a “shared sense of purpose”.

In an apparent pitch to older voters, he added volunteering could include helping local fire, police and NHS services as well as charities tackling loneliness and supporting elderly, isolated people.

Opposition critics dismissed the plans as unserious, with Labour saying the pledge would never come to fruition and amounted to “another unfunded commitment”.

The PM is seeking to draw a dividing line with Sir Keir Starmer’s party on global security following his pledge to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product by 2030.

Heightening his attack on Mr Starmer on Saturday, Mr Sunak said voters would be left “at risk” with the Labour leader in Number 10 because Britain’s enemies would notice that he “doesn’t have a plan”.

But Mr Sunak's national service plan's chances of improving the military and skills among young people are unclear, according to Mr Ferrel.

“It’s complete and utter tosh," he said.

“If we’re serious about doing something for the military, the government really wants to be ensuring that the professional army is paid professional rates of pay.

“I’m not sure how much money this is going to cost, but if it’s about bolstering the armed forces, the best thing to do would be to increase pay.”

He said doing this would make the army more attractive as a career, bringing recruitment numbers up, while adding that if it was mandatory the army would be stocked with unenthusiastic and unproductive servicepeople.

“The stories I was told by ex-national servicemen about their time in the army was just about getting through it as easily as they could, never volunteering for anything extra.

“The army can offer great career opportunities in many different skills, but it’s got to be for the person who wants to do it.”