Reform UK MPs call for ‘national debate’ on the death penalty after Southport killer sentenced
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One MP for Nigel Farage’s party, Lee Anderson, posted a picture of a noose on his X account, adding: ‘No apologies here. This is what is required!’, while prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said Rudakubana would ‘likely never be released’. MPs in Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party have called for a debate on the death penalty after a killer who murdered three girls at a children’s dance class was sentenced.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, was given life with a minimum of 52 years in prison for the horrific attack which was described as a “pre-meditated attempt to commit indiscriminate mass murder”. Judge Mr Justice Goose said he was unable to hand him a rare whole life order because he was only 17 at the time of the attack on 29 July last year. He turned 18 just nine days later.
Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said the sentence was “not severe enough” and he had asked the Attorney General to review the sentence as “unduly lenient”. The Attorney General’s Office said the case had been referred under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, which requires just one request in order for punishments handed out in court to be reconsidered.
Attorney General Lord Hermer and Solicitor General Lucy Rigby have 28 days to decide whether to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal. Meanwhile, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice has called for a “national debate” on the death penalty. The MP told LBC: "I don’t think we should be afraid of having a national debate on important big issues like this. I think that many people in the country would like at least a debate.".
