Prisoners to get right to vote after 140 years following European ruling

Prisoners to get right to vote after 140 years following European ruling

Prisoners are to be given the right to vote for the first time in more than a century, it was disclosed last night.

By Robert Winnett and Tom Whitehead
Last Updated: 9:09AM BST 09 Apr 2009

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is considering allowing anyone sentenced to less than four years the right to cast a ballot. This would result in more than 28,000 prisoners voting.

The proposal was put forward as part of a Government consultation on which prisoners could be eligible to vote in the next general election.

Ministers have acted five years after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the ban on prisoners voting was unlawful.

However, the timing of the announcement - during the Easter recess in Parliament - sparked accusations that the Government was attempting to hide the news.

Dominic Grieve, the shadow Justice Secretary, said: "Many people will question whether this is a sensible development. "The principle that those who are in custody after conviction should not have the opportunity to vote is a perfectly rational one. Civic rights go with civic responsibility, but these rights have been flagrantly violated by those who have committed imprisonable offences."

"The Government must allow a parliamentary debate which gives MPs the opportunity to insist on retaining our existing practise that convicted prisoners can't vote."

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, added: "It would be disgusting to let tens of thousands of criminals have an equal vote as the law abiding majority.

"These convicts never gave a second thought to the rights of others when they committed their crimes so their right to vote should be forfeited.

"The Government should get a backbone and start standing up for the British people by simply refusing to do what the European Court of Human Rights says."

The Government is currently consulting on four different options for allowing prisoners to vote. These range from only allowing those sentenced to a year or less to be automatically allowed to vote to allowing those sentenced to up to four years to apply to a judge for the right to cast a ballot.

Michael Wills, a Justice Minister, said that the Government was inclined to only grant less serious offenders a vote.

"The Government has made it clear that it disagreed with the European Court of Human Rights ruling," he said. "However, the result of the ruling is that some degree of voting being extended to some serving prisoners is legally unavoidable.

"We will ensure that whatever the outcome of this consultation, the most serious and dangerous offenders held in custody will not be able to vote."

The ban on inmates voting in elections dates back almost 140 years. It was overturned after John Hirst, who was jailed for manslaughter after killing his landlady with an axe, challenged the ban in Europe.

Hirst was preparing a judicial review over the Government's failure to implement the European court ruling before the latest proposals were outlined.