The Tories will offer a tax incentive as part of a 50,000-pledge pledge

“This Labor government is now rebuilding our military, including increasing the size of our strategic reserves and giving them more opportunities to work alongside their regular counterparts,” Pollard said.

The Conservatives said their pledge would be to recruit about 18,000 new reservists, bringing the total to 50,000.

Trained and untrained reserves of the Army, RAF and Navy were over 32,000 on 1 January 2026. According to government statistics, External.

The Tories also want more reservists to complete their minimum training days, typically 19 or 27 days.

Reservists who meet the minimum training commitment and pass the military training tests currently receive a tax-free bonus payment on top of their current salary.

In 2024/25, the tax-free annual bonus was paid to 46 per cent of reserves. According to the government, External.

The leader of the Conservative Party, Mrs Kemi Badenoch, emphasized that Labor is “being displaced”. John Haley’s decision to resign as Secretary of Defense Funding for defense investments has fallen short of what is needed to maintain the nation’s security.

Britain would have to cut its welfare bill in order to fund defense for the EU, which is why the Conservatives are using the money they save to protect the return of child support payments.

“We’re going to cut taxes so we can support our military and increase our reserve force to 50,000 to keep our country safe.”

Cartledge said the UK’s NATO allies were building up their stockpiles “to deal with the dangerous world we all face”.

“Britain should do the same, but while other countries are using conscription, we are committed to professional, volunteer armed forces – which means we need to make reserve service financially viable.”

The Conservatives said implementing their policy would cost around £44m in the first year, which would increase over the five-year parliament.

Once reserve numbers reach 50,000, the policy will cost £152m a year.

The biggest cost is related to paying more reserves and extra days for existing ones, with the tax-free incentive costing around £20m a year, the party said.

Last year Systematic defense evaluation (SDR) outlines a shift to “warfare readiness” to counter threats, pledging billions in additional spending on additional munitions, next-generation fast jets, drones and new attack submarines.

It also felt it would be “necessary” to increase the UK’s active reserve forces by “at least 20% when funding allows, possibly in the 2030s”.

The DPD added that defense “must make better use of available resources”, including recruitment and retention, and welcomed some of the work being done by the Ministry of Defence.