Don’t go backwards with the right to vote

THERE has been much discussion in this column over the last week of who should be entitled to vote in Welsh Government elections.

Windsor Davies, of Blanford in Dorset, suggests excluding prisoners, but including people born, but no longer living in Wales, while Martin Rolph, of Cardiff, suggests only giving income taxpayers the vote.

The subject of prisoner voting will always be contentious. What about prisoners on remand, and not convicted of any crime? What about the principle of reform, and making them once again valued members of society?

If a person is not resident in Wales, I understand why they should not be allowed to vote in Welsh elections. Personally I struggle to understand why their letters are routinely published in this column, with their usual tiresome anti-Welsh rants.

The reasons why some people do not pay income tax are multifold: some are students, some retired; ill-health and disability prevent some from working; stay-at- home parents, the low paid, and the economically inactive. Are any of these groups less important than a person paying income tax? Not since 1867 and reform brought about by the Chartists has the vote not been dependent on wealth, though it took until 1928 for the vote not to be dependent on gender.

Rhidian Richard Clydach, Swansea