Britain needs ‘Swedish conscription model’ to defeat Putin with 18-year-olds forced to fight, MI6 boss warns

BRITAIN may need to introduce “conscription” to defeat Vladimir Putin, the former head of MI6 has warned.

Sir Alex Younger said the Government could compel Britons to “give their service one way or another” in the face of new international threats.

The ex-spy chief told the BBC‘s Today Podcast that a new type of enrolment would not amount to full military service for everyone.

He said: “In extremis, I think we'd be looking at something like the model I understand exists in places like , where the Government theoretically has the power to compel people to give their service one way or another, but doesn't exercise it except in areas where it's really needed.”

Sir Alex said he was not advocating for “blanket conscription” across the population.

Instead, he was interested in “ways in which the broader country would participate and contribute to security in a time of an emergency”.

Sweden reintroduced a form of conscription for over-18s in 2017 in response to Russia's invasion of Crimea.

Sir Alex served as the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 2014 to 2020.

The introduction of conscription, were it to happen, would be the first time in over 60 years that Brits would be required to fight.

Mandatory military service was introduced during the First World War after the government passed the Military Service Act in 1916.

It comes as as spies warned Putin is plotting to sabotage gas pipelines and cause devastating blackouts.

While theUKcontinues to pursue Net Zero environmental targets, the country has shownon supplies of gas and electricity from abroad.

Close to a whopping 40 per cent of the UK's gas supply comes from , most of which through the single, 700-mile Langeled pipeline.

And fears loom thatis plotting to sabotage the gas pipelines, especially since one of their Yantar spy ships was detected mapping the UK's critical underwater infrastructure in the North Sea recently.

The UK is said to have been close to blackouts during winters in the past – but narrowly avoided emergency using last-resort reserves and ‘s electricity imported undersea.

Now security experts have argued that Brit households should have a three-day survival kit – following suit of the rest of the EU.

One source revealed: “We know that the Russians are active in the North Sea and have the power to cripple our links.

“We need to become much more self-sufficient, and quickly. And households should be ready for all eventualities.”

The push to get people survival-ready isn't just a fever dream, but an EU-backed strategy.

Theis now formally urging every household across its 27 member states to have a three day emergency kit ready – not just for war, but for natural disasters and crises of all kinds.

It comes as Russian spy sensors have been discovered in UK waters, believed to be tracking Britain’s nuclear submarines.

Flying Ezeday Timesreports the discovery was deemed a serious national security risk but has never been made public.

Some of the devices were found washed ashore, while others were detected by minehunter ships.

Defence sources believe they were planted to gather intelligence on the UK's four Vanguard-class submarines.

These carry nuclear missiles and are meant to operate undetected as part of the UK's at-sea deterrent.

Thesuspectsdeployed the spy gear as part of a wider campaign of “greyzone” warfare, targeting cables, pipelines and undersea assets.

And hundreds of turbines off our coast have been described as a “national security disaster” which make it virtually impossible to thwart saboteurs.

Labour Energy Minister Ed Milliband's net zero drive is also said to have left Britain at the mercy of Putin's covert campaign to cripple his European enemies by stealth.