Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on HM Government Strategy for Abolition of the Death Penalty, published October 2011.

Mr David Lidington

Progress has been strong. In December 2014, a biennial UN resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty was passed with a record majority. Fewer than 30 countries now carry out executions and the number of people executed is at an all-time low. There have been set-backs and disappointments, but the long-term trend in the use of the death penalty is undoubtedly downwards. Nonetheless, the British Government’s view remains that the death penalty is an unjustified tool in all circumstances and we continue to campaign for total abolition.