Why The UK Should Not Bring Back The Death Penalty

4 November 2018, 07:36 | Updated: 4 November 2018, 17:48

A Tory MP has called for the government to consider bringing back the death penalty, but Andrew Castle explains why capital punishment is not an option.

Former minister John Hayes suggests that capital punishment 'should be available to the courts' in cases such as that of Westminster Bridge attacker Khalid Masood.

But while seeking the death penalty for Masood wouldn't be an issue for Andrew Castle, the LBC presenter said he wouldn't be in general support of the punishment.

"What if an innocent man dies?" he asked.

"And what if you are poor, what is your representation like?

"If you don't have the money to defend yourself properly?"

In a written parliamentary question, 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”.

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

Capital punishment in the UK was outlawed in 1965, and the option of the death penalty was completely abolished in 1998.