<P> The Murder ( Abolition of Death Penalty ) Act 1965 suspended the death penalty in Great Britain ( but not in Northern Ireland ) for murder for a period of five years , and substituted a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment ; it further provided that if , before the expiry of the five - year suspension , each House of Parliament passed a resolution to make the effect of the Act permanent , then it would become permanent . In 1969 the Home Secretary , James Callaghan , proposed a motion to make the Act permanent , which was carried in the Commons on 16 December 1969 , and a similar motion was carried in the Lords on 18 December . The death penalty for murder was abolished in Northern Ireland on 25 July 1973 under the Northern Ireland ( Emergency Provisions ) Act 1973 . </P>
<P> The Murder ( Abolition of Death Penalty ) Act 1965 suspended the death penalty in Great Britain ( but not in Northern Ireland ) for murder for a period of five years , and substituted a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment ; it further provided that if , before the expiry of the five - year suspension , each House of Parliament passed a resolution to make the effect of the Act permanent , then it would become permanent . In 1969 the Home Secretary , James Callaghan , proposed a motion to make the Act permanent , which was carried in the Commons on 16 December 1969 , and a similar motion was carried in the Lords on 18 December . The death penalty for murder was abolished in Northern Ireland on 25 July 1973 under the Northern Ireland ( Emergency Provisions ) Act 1973 . </P>
when did the death penalty stop in uk
when did the death penalty stop in uk
25 July 1973
25 July 1973