What was claimed
Andy Burnham is going to set up an Emergency Register to recruit civilians deemed fit by the government to sign up and fight in a war.
Our verdict
There’s no evidence for this claim. The Ministry of Defence says the government has no such policy and we’ve not seen any credible reports that such a register is planned by the government.
A widely shared Facebook post has claimed that the Prime Minister Andy Burnham is “going to set up an Emergency Register to recruit civilians deemed fit by the government to sign up and fight in a war”.
But there is no evidence for this claim, and the Ministry of Defence told Full Fact that there’s currently no such policy. It’s possible the social media post may be referencing a separate proposal made by the Liberal Democrats last month, which is not government policy and which does not appear to involve registering people to fight.
At their annual conference last month, the Liberal Democrats passed a policy proposal to “establish a comprehensive international security strategy”. Part of this included establishing a “Civil Volunteer Reserve”, which it described as a “national network of skilled citizens ready to support essential services and national security efforts at short notice”.
Some media outlets reported this proposal as an “emergency register”, and the party’s defence spokesperson said on 20 September: “Countries like Finland and others already have these kind of registers out there, and I think it’s something a lot people would be very willing to sign up to if we gave them the option.”
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However, the Liberal Democrats are not in government. The government hasn’t announced any such register, and we’ve not seen any credible reports that it’s planning such a register.
It’s also worth noting that the emergency register proposed by the Liberal Democrats, unlike the register described in the Facebook post, does not appear to be a register of civilians who would be recruited to fight in a war. Media reports have suggested it would be a voluntary register, for the likes of electricians who could help if the UK’s energy infrastructure was attacked.
