Reform By-Election Candidate Strongly Opposes Death Penalty And Supports Rehabilitation
Sarah Pochin was announced as Reform's by-election candidate last week (Alamy)
8 min read
The Reform UK candidate for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election is "absolutely not in favour" of the death penalty and is “very much in favour” of giving offenders a "second chance" after serving their sentences.
In an interview with PoliticsHome, former magistrate Sarah Pochin said she strongly supported offenders being "rehabilitated and taken back into society".
Pochin was announced last week as Reform’s candidate for the by-election contest to replace former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, who stood down after being filmed punching a constituent in the street.
The by-election will be held on 1 May alongside local and mayoral elections across the UK. It will be one of the first major tests for both the Labour government and Reform UK since the July general election. The latter came second in the constituency last summer, and since then has led both Labour and the Tories in some opinion polls.
Reform leader Nigel Farage last week told PoliticsHome that Pochin was an “amazing” candidate as she had lived “three lives” in business, local politics and as a magistrate, which Farage said he found “really interesting” as she had spent years listening to people's stories.
Speaking to PoliticsHome shortly after her candidacy was confirmed, Pochin said her 20 years “on the frontline” in courts greatly influenced her political views on the justice system.
“Personally, no, I'm absolutely not in favour of the death penalty,” Pochin said.
“That’s not something I believe in. I feel fundamentally, from a personal point of view, that's wrong. There's always that risk of a mistake.”
A survey by the More in Common think tank in January found a significant increase in public support for the death penalty since its last poll on the topic in 2023: 55 per cent of respondents said the death penalty should be reintroduced for certain crimes and the highest level of support was among Reform voters, with 79 per cent in favour of the death penalty and only 14 per cent opposed.
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice and former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who has since been suspended from the party, led calls for a “national debate” on restoring the death penalty in response to the fatal stabbings of children at a dance party in Southport last year. Reform MP Lee Anderson posted an image of a noose on X with the comment “this is what is required”.
Speaking in 2014, however, Farage said he was personally against the death penalty as he did not want the state to be able to “decide between life and death”.
Pochin sees the perceived failure of both Labour and Conservative governments to reform the criminal justice system as one of her primary motivations to become an MP. Overcrowding on the UK prison estate has led to the early release of some prisoners in recent months.
“Neither [the Tories or Labour] have made the changes to the criminal justice system that should have been made over the course of those years,” Pochin said.
“Things that weren't working 20 years ago are still not working. Defendants who come out of prison come out with no job, nowhere to live… They are given some money in their pocket and off they go. And inevitably, they come back around in the system...
“It’s not a difficult problem to fix.”
She is “very much in favour” of the approach taken by "friend" Lord Timpson, the businessman who was brought into the House of Lords by the Labour government last year to serve as minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending.
Timpson is a long-time advocate for the rehabilitation and employment of former prisoners, arguing previously that the UK is “addicted to punishment” and that too many people are sent to prison.
“I actually support Lord Timpson, I'm a friend of James,” Pochin said.
“The work they [Timpsons] do is absolutely fantastic, and I am fully supportive of that approach of where people can be rehabilitated and taken back into society and contribute to society, then absolutely they should have a second chance.”
Pochin added that she believed offenders should serve out their full sentences.
“People are not serving the time that as a magistrate or a judge you give them, they've been let out with 50 per cent of time served, now it's gone to 40 per cent of time served,” she said. “And that's not even talking about the ones that have had early release simply because we've run out of prison places.”
Pochin and Farage take media questions at a shopping centre in Runcorn (Alamy)
Pochin told PoliticsHome that during her time as a magistrate she had seen how many male criminals have “lacked a strong male role model in their lives”. In her view, this is why so many young men are turning to misogynistic male influencers such as Andrew Tate for inspiration.
The former councillor has been married to the father of her sons for 29 years and said that while her children, now aged 23 and 26, had benefited from a stable family life, she had seen that many others are not so lucky.
“Some of the youngsters that have got swept along with this toxic person [Tate] are looking for a role model,” Pochin said.
“And it's very sad that, unfortunately, they've latched on to that, and they think that that is how our society should conduct itself, because clearly it’s not.”
Pochin has watched the Netflix drama Adolescence, which depicts the aftermath of a young teenage boy stabbing a female classmate to death, after he was bullied online and watched sexist ‘incel’ content.
“I thought it was harrowing,” Pochin said.
“I see young people who’ve got themselves into such a muddle – probably an understatement – but a real mess very early on in their lives. That really resonated with me, actually.”
Pochin said her experience as a mother has played a key part in shaping her political views.
“If you're a caring person, if you're a compassionate person, then you want to see young people being able to live in the most caring environment, an environment that they learn from, and unfortunately, so many of our young people just don't have that.
“If that makes me sound like a sensible Labour person or a sensible Conservative person, then so be it. But I'm speaking as a mother and a member of the community.”
Pochin previously served as a Tory borough councillor between 2015 and 2020, when she left the party in a row over running for a mayoral position.
The Reform candidate was keen, however, to distance herself from her former party, telling PoliticsHome that “five years of the toxic Tories was more than enough” for her.
“At a local level, exactly the same was going on as how they behave at a national level. The infighting was nasty. They cared more about their own positions of power than they did about doing the right thing for residents.”
Pochin dismissed any notion that the row surrounding accusations of bullying by Lowe in her current party could negatively affect its electoral chances, claiming not a single voter had mentioned his name when she had been out campaigning.
Reform UK is investigating the conduct of MP Rupert Lowe after complaints of "serious bullying" and threats of physical violence (Alamy)
“Out there, it's about Nigel Farage,” she said. “People associate Reform with Nigel Farage, he's the figurehead. He's an extraordinary politician, and that's who people come in and want to talk about.”
Disputing any allegation that she had “jumped ship” herself, Pochin said that she would “absolutely not” be in any favour of any future pact with the Conservative Party.
“We don't want to have Conservatives just jumping ship because they can see that we are reflecting the views of the population, we need people that are true believers like myself in what the Reform policies are.”
Pochin has lived in Cheshire for 30 years, nearby but not within the boundaries of the Runcorn and Helsby constituency.
“Cheshire is my home, I'm very, very proud to be in this area,” she said, but described how the area had also been neglected and lacked investment and facilities such as a swimming pool or cinema, despite its connectivity to Manchester and Liverpool.
“If you saw the deprivation in certain areas, if you saw how run down the town centre has become, certainly in Runcorn, then it's quite clear that nobody has been standing up with a strong voice for the residents of these areas.”
If she does win on 1 May, Pochin will not just become the first Reform candidate to win a by-election, but also the party's first female MP in the House of Commons.
While Pochin said that it was “important to have a balance in your politicians to reflect the community and reflect the country”, she insisted there was no particular push within Reform to select more women candidates because it is not necessary.
“It's all about equality, it's just about the most competent candidate for the job,” she said.
“I really don't think it's an issue. It just simply isn't an issue in this party.”
