Those are other points, Gareth. The point I was making was that it's a distortion to say "the nation" supports something just because the government does.

As for hanging, when they had a referendum in Ireland on changing the constitution to make sure the death penalty couldn't ever be sneaked back in, the vote was in favour of barring the death penalty for ever. Given a bit of effort maybe the other bits of the British Isles might catch up.