The former head of MI6 has suggested that Britain may need to introduce a new form of conscription in the face of new international threats.

Sir Alex Younger is urging the Government to compel Britons to ‘give their service one way or another’.

The Mail Online reports: The ex-spy suggested a new type of enrolment would stop short of full military service for all. ‘In extremis, I think we’d be looking at something like the model I understand exists in places like Sweden, 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,’ he told the BBC’s Today Podcast.

Sir Alex said he was not proposing ‘blanket conscription’ but that 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.

In a separate development, families have been warned to pack a 72-hour ‘survival kit’ in case Russian attacks on energy pipelines plunge Britain into a blackout.

Households should be ‘ready for all eventualities’, security sources told The Mail on Sunday, to prepare for possible sabotage of the UK’s infrastructure by Vladimir Putin.