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”.
The Tories would make it compulsory for 18-year-olds to give up the equivalent of a weekend a month for a year to do voluntary work or sign up for 12 months in the armed forces.
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.
Mr Sunak said the scheme for 18-year-olds will “keep them out of trouble”, adding: “When you ask people about gangs, why they join gangs when you talk to youngsters and when you talk to their parents, it’s because being in that gang gives them a sense of identity and a sense of purpose.
“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.”
