‘Severe’ punishment facing Brits refusing conscription as ex-NATO boss fears ‘WW3 close’

As the situation in the Middle East continues to escalate further, fears mount over what it could mean for the rest of the world. Missiles continue to fall over areas loved by Brits, such as the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai. British Prime Minister has evoked the wrath of Donald Trump by being cautious about getting involved.

But now, a former NATO commander fears the ongoing war could develop into a global conflict. Richard Shirreff, the former deputy supreme allied commander of NATO in Europe, said he “cannot remember a more perilous moment in geopolitics in his lifetime”. He added: “I fear that future historians will look back at this week’s reckless attempt at ‘regime change from the skies’ as the final catalyst for a third world war.”

Should WW3 officialy begin, Brits could be encouraged to join the armed forces en masse to counter international threats. One such tool for doing this could be conscription, something that hasn’t been used since 1960. Speaking to the Express, author and historian David Swift suggested that if it were to be introduced, there could be severe punishments for Britons who don’t respond to the call.

David suggested that rather than time behind bars, Brits could be punished financially with a “severe” fine for not being conscripted. He said: “I imagine it would be fines rather than imprisonment or anything like that, due to: 1. Lack of prison capacity. 2. Difficulty enforcing and lack of legitimacy and 3. That ‘conscription’, if introduced, would be very much focused around monetary reward.”

The historian suggested that the UK could follow the example of Greece where there was a fine of €6,000 (£5213.19) for not signing up, but in 2019 the country debated removing the fine altogether. The Express approached the Greek embassy in London for comment on the matter earlier this year, but they did not respond.

However, David said Britain could also follow the Swiss example where people pay more in taxes for not serving. He explained: “In Switzerland, you have to pay an additional three percent in taxes if you refuse military service for the duration of the time you were meant to be in military training.

“This way, the fines are severe enough so that they present a genuine disincentive not to serve (if it was only a few hundred quid you would have lots of people opting out), but not as severe as imprisonment.”

Furthermore, as well as punishing Britons financially, certain groups of people within the country itself could also be targeted.

As to who those groups might be Mr Swift said: “Today, since there is such an urgent need to rebuild Britain’s defence industries and industrial capacity, I would expect that people in these important occupations would be exempt.

“Or even that people could be ‘conscripted’ into working in these industries, and that military conscription would target unemployed graduates – this would be very popular with lots of people and especially the Blue Labour thinkers behind Starmer.”

The conflict in the Middle East has had a dramatic impact on the cost of oil with the price of a barrel surging to over $100 (£75) a barrel. In response some countries, like Croatia and South Korea, have introduced price caps for their fuel.