The Tories’ national service plan is taking more hits this morning. Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker says this morning that the plan “was developed by a political adviser or advisers and sprung on candidates, some of whom are relevant ministers”. Becoming a theme of the campaign, that…

Now Foreign Office Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan suggests that parents could be fined for their kids’ non-attendance. If this is the way we treat 18.-year-olds the voting age needs to be raised…

She says:

“Use an example of how school attendance is enforced – if you don’t go to school often your parents can actually be prosecuted. That what would extend to this if the 18-year-old decided they don’t want to do any of this national service business if it goes on and on and on, the parents might be prosecuted.“

James Cleverly yesterday suggested that 18-year-olds would be on the front line of services in their (mandatory) volunteering roles, while CCHQ’s briefing says that they will do exclusively backline support work. With the fire brigade they’d be “distributing fire safety advice“. Providing no value whatsoever…