Most Leave voters want death penalty restored after Brexit, poll reveals
More than half of Leave voters want to see capital punishment reinstated after Brexit, a new poll has found.
According to a YouGov survey, 53 percent of people who voted for the UK to leave the bloc back in July’s referendum would like the death penalty brought back.
The poll also found that more than 40 percent of Leavers want corporal punishment reintroduced in schools. That is in stark contrast to the mere 14 percent of Remainers who would want it restored in a post-Brexit future.
Among other findings, 30 percent of Leave voters would also like traditional light bulbs to return to shops. The European Union abandoned the use of the bulbs as they are thought to be inefficient. Although the drop in the use of the bulbs cost the EU economy up to €10 billion, carbon dioxide emissions were cut by 15 million tonnes.
The findings were released on Wednesday, the same day Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50, formally announcing to EU officials the start of the two-year process to get the UK out of the bloc.
The poll surveyed 2,060 people on the 21 and 22 of February, 810 of whom voted for Britain to stay in the bloc. According to the findings, up to 20 percent of Remainers would also back the death penalty.
People could be executed for committing murder in Great Britain until 1965 and in Northern Ireland until 1973. Despite the penalty being abandoned thereafter, votes on whether to reinstate it were held every year until 1997.
The survey also found that 52 percent of those opting to exit the EU would like blue passports –used in the UK before it turned to the dark red, scannable document used within the European Union – to return.
By contrast, only 16 percent of Remainers want the blue passport back in distribution.
The findings also reveal that 48 percent of Leavers want imperial units reintroduced, where goods were sold in pounds and ounces. But just 11 percent would like smoking in pubs and restaurants to be permitted again.
UKIP leader Paul Nuttall last year said he would call for a referendum on bringing back the death penalty if “enough” people sign a petition for it.
Nuttall told Sky News he thought death penalty was the appropriate sentence for “killers” of children.
“I’ve been quite open that I believe in capital punishment for the killers of children, for Ian Brady, which is what the majority of the British people think,” he told the program.
