Politics

Almost a third of Tory MPs support the reintroduction of the death penalty


Almost a third of Tory MPs support the reintroduction of the death penalty in the UK.

An exclusive poll of MPs carried out by YouGov for Yahoo News found that 18% of Conservative MPs strongly support bringing back the death penalty and 13% somewhat support doing so.

In contrast, not one Labour MP said they support bringing back capital punishment.

Last year former Tory Minister John Hayes urged the government to reintroduce the death penalty in some terrorism cases.

In a written parliamentary question after the Westminster terror attack, Mr Hayes asked the justice secretary to “make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to reintroduce the death penalty to tackle violent crime”.

Responding, justice minister Edward Argar said the government “opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and has no plans to reintroduce it”.

The last execution in the UK happened in 1964, but it was still a on the books as a potential punishment for some offences until being expunged in 1998.

John Hayes has previously called for the death penalty in some cases

 

Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK’s Director, said capital punishment was a “cruel relic of the past”.

She added: “The vast majority of countries in the world have stopped using the death penalty in recognition of its cruelty and the ever-present danger of miscarriages of justice.

“We would urge any MP still hankering after a return of the grotesque ritual of cold-bloodedly condemning people to be hanged to consult our latest global report on the death penalty.

“It shows in case after case how people around the world are still being sentenced to death arbitrarily, after unfair trials – sometimes involving false confessions – and even for political reasons.

“Do we really want the UK to join China, Saudi Arabia and Iran in the dwindling band of countries that still execute their citizens?

“The death penalty is a cruel relic of the past and there should be no place for it in the modern world.”

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