Most Tory voters back the death penalty, new poll reveals

A new poll has revealed the stark differences between Britons who support and oppose the death penalty.

Most Conservative voters favour capital punishment (58% support, 34% oppose), while Labour voters (23% support, 66% oppose) are not so keen, according to the YouGov poll.

There is also a disparity depending on the region people live in.

London (25%) has the lowest support for the death penalty, with the South (41%), Midlands and Wales (46%), North (45%) and Scotland (39%) all being more in favour.

Read more: Man who murdered girlfriend's toddler weeks after meeting jailed for life

The survey shows 40% of Britons support the death penalty overall, with 50% opposed and 10% unsure.

Over 65s are more than twice as likely as people aged 18-24 to support capital punishment, at 54% to 22%.

Gender is broadly the same, with men only a little more likely than women to be in favour, by 44% to 39%.

There is also a significant difference in support depending on the crime, with Brits are more likely than not to be in favour of capital punishment for child murderers (52% support, 35% oppose), terrorists (54% support, 34% oppose) and multiple killings (55% support, 32% oppose)

They did not favour a blanket death penalty for all murders (34% support, 48% oppose).

Read more: Knife killer's attempted 'massacre' of neighbours after parking row caught on CCTV

MPs voted to permanently abolish the death penalty in Britain in 1969 (after it had been suspended in 1965).

It was the culmination of a long campaign after Labour MP Sydney Silverman had attempted to pass legislation in 1956 abolishing the death penalty but failed.

The Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act passed in 1965 after it was introduced as a private members bill by Silverman, but found support from all three parties.

The Act still allowed executions for high treason, ‘piracy with violence’, espionage and arson in the royal dockyards.

When the Human Rights Act came into force in 1998, the death penalty was fully banned under UK law.

Watch: Should the death penalty exist in America?

The US and Japan are the only industrialised democracies that still carry capital punishment and rights groups such as Amnesty International have demanded change for decades.

Last July, Sierra Leone's parliament voted unanimously to repeal the death penalty more than two decades after the West African country carried out its last execution.

It is one of several African countries moving to end capital punishment.

Malawi's Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in April, and Chad ended executions for those charged with terrorism last year.