Half of young people say they would never take up arms for the UK and only 38% say they would do so “under some circumstances”, a poll has found. The Telegraph has more.

Asked whether they would be willing to go to war for Britain, 50% of those aged 16 to 29 said that “under no circumstances” would they go to war.

Only 38% said they would do so “under some circumstances”, while the rest did not know.

It is the latest survey to suggest that Gen Z is much less patriotic than older generations, and exposes the generational divide over questions of identity and national pride.

The poll of 2,000 people aged from 16 to 29, commissioned by the John Smith Centre at Glasgow University, found that the number expecting their lives to be better than their parents’ had halved in a year – from 63% to just 36%.

Only 25% said they felt the political system treated them fairly.

Eddie Barnes, the Director of the John Smith Centre, said younger people were unwilling to fight for a country that was not fighting for them.

“The idea that the next generation will have it better than previous ones has been a founding belief for decades,” he said.

“Today’s poll shows that the majority of this generation of young people no longer believe it to be true. And it reveals their loss of belief is collapsing at speed.

“Locked out of the housing market, pinned down by low wages, loaded by student debt, and increasingly worried about the rise in AI, young people today feel a growing sense of unfairness about the world around them.

He added: “In those circumstances, it should be little surprise that 50% say they wouldn’t fight for the country under any circumstances. Or as many young people might put it: why fight for a country that isn’t fighting for you?”

In the poll, young people ranked financial concerns, job insecurity and housing instability as their top-three worries.

They ranked better wages, affordable housing and more career opportunities as the top three things that would make them happier.

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