Reform UK MPs have ramped up calls for a debate around the death penalty after Southport's remorseless killer Axel Rudakubana was handed an "unduly lenient" 52-year-sentence.
Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, Boston & Skegness MP Richard Tice and Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe all demanded a conversation about the reintroduction of capital punishment.
Sharing an image of a hangman's noose, Anderson said: "This is what is required."
Tice added: "I don’t think we should be afraid of having a national debate on important big issues like this. I think that many people in the country would like at least a debate."
Lee Anderson and Richard Tice
PA
Lowe also claimed that it was now "time for a national debate" on the use of capital punishment "in exceptional circumstances".
The death penalty was only officially abolished in Britain in 1998.
However, Peter Anthony and Gwynne Owen Evans were the last people executed in the UK back in 1964.
Following Rudakubana's sentencing yesterday, a petition was launched on the Houses of Parliament website demanding the abolition of whole life orders and reintroduction of the death penalty.
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Axel RudakubanaPAThe most recent opinion poll on reintroducing the death penalty, conducted by YouGov in 2022, suggests Britain is split on the return of capital punishment.
YouGov found that 40 per cent supported its return, with 60 per cent opposing.
However, in cases of multiple murder, terrorism and the murder of a child, the proportion of Britons supporting the death penalty soars past 50 per cent.
Judge Mr Justice Goose was unable to hand Rudakubana a whole life order because he was just nine days away from turning 18 at the time of the horrific attack last July.
Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to murdering three young girls in the Southport knife attack in July 2024PASouthport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said the 52-year sentence was “not severe enough” and asked Attorney General to review the sentence as “unduly lenient”.
Attorney General Lord Hermer and Solicitor General Lucy Rigby have 28 days to decide whether to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.
In a statement release following yesterday's sentencing, Sir Keir Starmer described the Southport attack, which left three children dead and another eight wounded, as "one of the most harrowing moments in our country's history."
Directly addressing Rudakubana's sentence, the Prime Minister added: "What happened in Southport was an atrocity and as the judge has stated, this vile offender will likely never be released."
