Fury at plans for prisoners to get the vote

A DECISION to allow serving prisoners the vote following a 12year dispute with the European Court of Human Rights has provoked outrage.

Ministers have spent more than a decade fighting a ruling won by axe killer John Hirst that the current blanket ban on prisoner voting was unlawful.

But yesterday it emerged Justice Secretary David Lidington had put forward plans to let inmates take part in elections – though only those on day release who are still on the electoral roll.

As voters ‘drop off’ the electoral roll after a year if they do not register, which prisoners cannot do, ministers insist only those serving under 12 months will be eligible – possibly as few as 100 inmates.

The prospect of abandoning the current law is likely to cause alarm. David Cameron has said the thought of prisoners voting made him feel ‘ill’.

It could also raise fears that inmates locked up for more serious crimes will eventually be allowed to vote. A senior Government source told the Sunday Times: ‘This will only apply to a small number of people who remain on the electoral roll and are let out on day release.

‘These are not murderers and rapists but prisoners

‘Totally unacceptable’

who are serving less than a year who remain on the electoral roll.

‘No one will be allowed to register to vote if they are still behind bars.’

But Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: ‘I find this totally unacceptable. People who are in prison for breaking the law shouldn’t be voting for the people who set the law.’

Peter Bone, the Tory MP for Wellingborough, said: ‘It’s a bonkers decision. I think a lot of MPs will be concerned about this.’

However, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday: ‘The European Court of Human Rights has been saying for some years we can’t stop all prisoners having the vote and the Labour Party believes that… in the end, we have to support the position of the European Court of Human Rights.’

In Scotland, MSPs on Holyrood’s equalities and human rights committee are examining a plan to scrap the ban on most inmates being able to vote. It follows more electoral powers being devolved to the Scottish parliament.

Currently, some prisoners – for example those awaiting trial – can vote by post, but the vast majority are barred from the ballot box.

Green co-convener Patrick Harvie put forward a proposal to allow prisoners to take part in the 2014 independence referendum, but MSPs from the SNP, Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems voted against it.

IN 2005, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of an axe killer, John Hirst, who argued that Britain’s voting ban on convicted prisoners was unlawful.

Ever since, ministers of all shades have resisted changing the law. Now, for reasons which entirely escape this newspaper, that resistance has faltered, and Justice Secretary David Lidington has opted to roll over. Yes, the new rules may only affect small numbers of inmates serving less than a year. But how can we be sure it will end there?

Indeed, isn’t the real danger that by giving in once to human rights judges, the pressure for further concessions grows ever greater.

At a time when Britain is poised to seize back sovereignty from one distant, undemocratic body, we shouldn’t be kowtowing to another.