Should prisoners be able to vote in a general election?
As the UK heads toward its next election on May 2015 this is a question the government has been considering.
A decision has now been made, as reported in the UK's Telegraph:
'The Coalition has officially ruled out changing the law to allow prisoners to vote, in defiance of European judges who have repeatedly ruled that Britain is in breach of human rights law.
A report from the Ministry of Justice states that there will be no legislation to give voting rights to prisoners before the general election in May next year.
Until now the Government has said it is “reflecting” on its options and “actively considering” whether to bring forward a Bill to overturn the blanket ban on votes for prisoners.
However, in an annual update to MPs as the Commons broke up for Christmas, the MoJ report said ministers “will not be able to legislate for prisoner voting in this Parliament”.
In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Britain’s ban on prisoners voting was unlawful following a claim made by John Hirst, a convicted killer.
But in 2011 MPs voted by an overwhelming 234 to 22 to preserve the ban, in spite of the European Court’s ruling.
Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, said human rights laws had been “hijacked” by activists who were subverting the original intentions of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is supposed to be enforced by judges in the Strasbourg court.
“The reality is that increasingly the human rights agenda is being hijacked by individuals with cases that most reasonable people would see as being very little to do with human rights at all,” he said.
“Prisoners wanting the right to vote is a classic example.”
David Cameron has said the prospect of giving prisoners the vote makes him feel physically “sick”, although senior Liberal Democrats are said to favour allowing some prisoners to participate in elections.
Read the artcle in full here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11306002/Coalition-rules-out-giving-prisoners-the-vote.html
Does the idea of votes for prisoners make you feel sick or in a healthy democracy should all voices be heard?
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