PRISONERS SET TO GET THE VOTE IN HUGE CLIMBDOWN
PLANS to give some prisoners the right to vote in elections came under fire yesterday from Tory MPs.
Proposals have been circulated to ministers to grant the right to inmates who are sentenced to less than a year in jail and are allowed out on day release.
It follows a 12-year wrangle with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Since 2005, after a case brought on behalf of a man serving life for manslaughter, the court has ruled that Britain is breaching the European Convention on Human Rights by imposing a voting ban on all inmates.
Britain is the only western European country to have a complete ban, which it has had for 140 years. Some EU countries withhold the vote from only those convicted of serious crimes.
Responding to the idea of a British climbdown, Tory MP Philip Davies said: “This would be completely unacceptable. Prisoners released on temporary licence are still prisoners.
“Nobody has taken the vote away from them, they have taken it away from themselves by committing crimes. If these prisoners are so bothered about voting then they shouldn’t have committed their crimes. This MP Peter Bone calls the plan ‘bonkers’ move would be to placate unelected and unaccountable judges in the ECHR, who made a perverse decision, which I believe they now regret.”
Fellow Tory MP Peter Bone said: “It’s a bonkers decision. I think a lot of MPs will be concerned about this.”
Labour yesterday indicated it would obey the court’s insistence on at least some prisoners having the vote.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott told BBC One’s Andrew Marr: “The court has been saying for some years that we can’t stop all prisoners having the vote. The Labour Party believes that in the end we have to support the position of the European Court of Human Rights.
“It’s not whether prisoners should have the vote, it’s whether we should abide by the European Court of Human Rights. Abiding by the court, whether we’re in the EU or not, is very much a tenet of the type of socialism I believe in.”
But the proposal is likely to anger some Labour MPs and those from other parties. In 2011 the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly for a cross-party motion insisting the decision must be for the UK Parliament, not the European court.
Then Tory prime minister David Cameron told MPs the idea of letting inmates vote made him feel “physically ill” and in 2012 he again vowed his government would uphold the ban.
Last week Justice Secretary David Lidington was said to have shared his proposed reform with other ministers.
It would see convicts let out for rehabilitation courses or community service allowed to go home to vote if they are still on the electoral register – which people drop off after a year if their eligibility is not reconfirmed.
Prisoners could not apply to rejoin the roll while in jail and sources said the number of inmates affected would be only in the hundreds.
“These are not murderers and rapists but prisoners who are serving less than a year who remain on the electoral roll,” said a source.
A Government spokeswoman said: “Our policy on prisoner voting is well established. It remains a matter for the UK to determine, and offenders in prison cannot vote.”
The court is not part of the EU but all member states must sign up to it through the Council of Europe which oversees its work.