HOME Secretary Priti Patel could be conducting a policy paper to bring back the death penalty, of which she has previously supported, it is claimed.
A source claims that “A little bird at the @ukhomeoffice tells us @pritipatel has asked Civil Service to scope a policy paper on the restoration of the death penalty in the #NewYear2021 and the #Tories have the majority to do just that’”.
Patel had previously shown support for the death penalty, most notably on a 2011 edition of Question Time when she described it as an antidote to a currently ‘weak justice system’, and that it would work as a ‘deterrent’, leading to a heated debate on the matter alongside Private Eye editor Ian Hislop. She, however, recanted those views in 2016, according to The Times.
The death penalty had previously been abolished in 1965, with it being fully outlawed in 1998 through the European Convention on Human Rights, of whose 6th Protocol abolished it completely, removing the remaining UK stance of it being used for treason.
Despite this, there has been continued public support for it, peaking at 75% in 1983. Debates in Parliament on bringing it back have always failed to pass, despite the support from various prominent figures, like Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
The author reached out to the Home Office to confirm whether this was true or not. So far, there has been no response.
More follows.
