Site Meter

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Jack Straw fails to do his duty

Jack Straw fails to do his duty

Speaking at a special event on the future of human rights legislation, Mr Straw indicated the Government should do more to encourage people to vote.

Funny you should state that Jack, because if you drafted the Bill to legislate to allow convicted prisoners to vote they would not need any encouragement to vote they would simply cast their vote. It is pure hypocrisy to claim that people need encouragement to vote when in truth it is the government which is preventing them from exercising their human, legal and civil right.

You state that using the right to vote is an important duty of citizenship. If you did your duty, then convicted prisoners can do theirs.

2 comments:

Barnacle Bill said...

I do not see why an inmate should be deprived of the right to vote whilst in prison.
He/she still has a valid "stake" in the outside, be it to do with their children's education or their families living standards to sight just a couple examples, whilst he/she is inside.
What politicians fear in giving prisoners back their right to vote is that they might have to take a principle'd stand on an issue, rather than the easy popular route.

jailhouselawyer said...

Barnacle Bill: As you say, the government is trying to wriggle its way out of this but I won't release my grip on their balls. Abolishment of the death penalty was not popular but it did not stop the government passing a law. Given this precedent they really do not have a legitimate excuse for delaying the inevitable.