“100% success rate,” was Lee Anderson MP’s somewhat crass justification, when asked to explain why he would support bringing back the death penalty.
The MP for Ashfield and Tory party’s newly elected deputy Chairman told The Spectator that he would favour the return of capital of punishment because “nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed”.
Well, that’s certainly true. One could hardly refute his logic.. Yet, needless to say, his decision to voice support for a practice abolished over 50 years ago in Britain – and one often regarded as a stain on any so-called civilised society – has prompted a backlash. The PM has rushed to clarify that neither he nor the government shared Anderson’s stance.
Yet the outspoken 56 year-old is hardly an outlier, according to an arresting new poll.
Over half of Britons (52%) are in favour of reintroducing the death penalty for cases of multiple murder, according to YouGov, compared to 36% who would oppose it in such instances.
Anderson singled out the gruesome murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013 by Islamist extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale as a prime example of a heinous crime which should be punishable by execution. And YouGov’s findings suggest that 49% of Britons agree with him, in that they regard terrorist murder acts as ones which should result in a death penalty, compared to 38% who disagree.
The murder of a child garnered this same level of support (49%) for execution while 37% of those surveyed believe the murder of a police officer should result in the death penalty. Additionally, 30% Britons believe all cases of murder should be punishable by death compared to 51% who disagree.
Earlier YouGov polling from March 2022 found that Conservative voters are much more likely to support the death penalty – with 58% in favour of its reintroduction compared to 23% of Labour voters. And Britons aged over 65 are also more than twice as likely as those aged 18-24 to back the harsh measure, by 54% to 22%.
At present, regardless of public opinion, reinstating the death penalty is out of the question. Britain is signed up to the the European Convention on Human Rights, which imposes a strict ban on capital punishment. Though for how much longer we will be signed up to the ECHR is a topical – and heated – question.
Critics of the death penalty may well argue that the logic of Lee Anderson’s “100% success rate” comment is flawed. Indeed, moral objections aside, another fundamental problem with capital punishment – as MP’s including Labour’s Chris Bryant have pointed out this week – is that it makes juries reluctant to convict individuals. As a result, “guilty parties get off”.
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