Writing in The Daily Mail, Sir George, the leader of the House of Commons, believes that MPs can no longer afford to ignore public opinion on contentious issues "or pretend that their views do not exist", making specific reference to capital punishment.

Britain’s shores have not witnessed an execution since 1965 but the government’s new e-petitions system could see the issue discussed in the political arena for the fist time since 1998. Online petitions need to be backed by 100,000 people before being passed on to the Backbench Business Committee, which will then decide whether it is to be debated in the Commons.

The petition has been presented by Paul Staines, better known as the blogger Guido Fawkes, and would see the death penalty reintroduced for child murderers and the killers of on-duty police officers.

However, the legality of such a move is a topic of confusion. The UN allows for the use of the death penalty, so long as it is restricted to severe crimes such as murder. But when it comes to the EU all member states have ratified the 6th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) committing them to permanent abolition.

In fact, despite Professor Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider’s claim that the Lisbon Treaty allowed for the use of the death penalty within some of the fine print, article two clearly states that no one should be condemned to the death penalty, so how would Britain get around this? Doing so would be going completely against the grain, as all EU member states have banned the death penalty.

With a legal minefield like this, it could be a very short debate.

Tags: Death penalty, EU, House of Commons, Human Rights, Lisbon Treaty, Sir George Young, UN