Rishi Sunak rejects calls to reinstate death penalty after new deputy Tory chairman Lee Anderson backs its return
Rishi Sunak has rejected calls for the death penalty to be reinstated after new Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Lee Anderson backed its return.
In an interview with The Spectator magazine a few days before his surprise appointment to Mr Sunak’s top team on Tuesday, Mr Anderson said he would back the return of capital punishment because “nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed”.
“100% success rate,” the outspoken MP for Ashfield added.
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But probed on Mr Anderson’s comments during a visit to Cornwall on Thursday, the prime minister replied: “That’s not my view, that’s not the government’s view.
“But we are united in the Conservative Party in wanting to be absolutely relentless in bearing down on crime and making sure people are safe and feel safe.”
Explaining why he was not supporting the return of the death penalty, Mr Sunak said the government had “tightened up sentencing laws for the most violent criminals, they spend longer in prison”.
“It’s why we’re on our way to having 20,000 more police officers on our streets and we’re giving those police officers more powers to tackle crime, whether it’s stop and search or just this week in parliament we are giving police officers the power to tackle violent and extremist protesters,” he said.
“That’s because we want to make sure people are safe, they feel safe and that’s what we’re doing.”
The death penalty for murder in the UK was outlawed permanently in 1969 and then totally abolished for all crimes in 1998.
The last people executed in Britain were Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans on 13 August 1964.
The UK has signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits the restoration of the death penalty.
Rishi Sunak gave his opinion on the matter while visiting a centre in Cornwall to launch the government’s family hubs programme
But Mr Anderson argued that heinous crimes where the perpetrators are clearly identifiable should be punished by execution.
He pointed to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013 by Islamist extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.
The former was given a whole life term, meaning he will die in prison, and the latter was jailed for a minimum of 45 years for running over and stabbing the British Army soldier in southeast London in broad daylight.
Mr Anderson told the magazine: “Now I’d be very careful on that one [the return of the death penalty] because you’ll get the certain groups saying ‘You can never prove it’.
“Well, you can prove it if they have videoed it and are on camera – like the Lee Rigby killers.
“I mean: they should have gone, same week. I don’t want to pay for these people.”
Mr Anderson has a history of controversial comments, including questioning if food bank users have genuine need and criticising England football players for taking the knee in protest at racism.
The new Conservative Party deputy chairman has compared the government to “the band on the Titanic” for its handling of small boat crossings and said migrants arriving unlawfully in Britain should be returned the “same day” to where they came from.
A former Labour councillor before converting to the Tories, Mr Anderson said that despite facing criticism in some quarters for his opinions, he found voters often agreed with him.
“If I say something that is supposedly outrageous in that place [the Commons], I get back to Ashfield on a Thursday, people will come out of the shops and say ‘You say what I’m thinking’,” he added.
“Maybe some of my colleagues think I’m a little bit too divisive.
“But I’m of the mind that half the population will hate you, whatever colour you wear.”
Mr Anderson, a former miner, is popular among grassroot party members and was voted favourite backbench MP of 2022 in a survey by Conservative Home.
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But one Tory MP had choice words over the appointment, telling Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates that Mr Anderson is “everything that is wrong with the Conservative brand presently”.
The MP added: “He seems to rejoice in deliberately provoking and making aggressive simplistic statements that fail to recognise the complexities of the issues facing the country.
“If this is the new Tory party, many will be forgiven for deserting it.”
Another Conservative MP said: “We thought Liz Truss had killed the right of the party.
“Nobody knew Rishi had an ace card up his sleeve by making Lee Anderson the face of the right, putting the final nail in its coffin.”
Labour also attacked the appointment, with Zarah Sultana saying the Conservatives were “scraping the barrel” to fill government appointments.
While the SNP’s Justice spokesperson, Stuart McDonald MP said: “A party that appoints someone espousing views like this such as Lee Anderson to a senior role is not a party that deserves to be taken seriously, and is certainly not one fit for government.”
But Nigel Adams, the Tory MP for Selby and Ainsty, hailed the decision as a “clever appointment” by the prime minister, adding: “He understands why people voted Conservative in 2019 and what makes them tick.”
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt also defended the Conservative Party’s new deputy chairman, telling MPs he should be known as “he stands up for me Lee” rather than “30p Lee”.
Mr Anderson will work under Greg Hands, who replaced Nadhim Zahawi as chairman after he was sacked over his handling of his tax affairs.
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
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The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
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‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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