Prisoners claim the high moral ground over MPs expenses
PQs in the House of Lords in 2003:
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): It has been the view of successive governments that prisoners convicted of a crime serious enough to warrant imprisonment have lost the moral authority to vote.
MPs' expenses: Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, in 2009: "The moral authority of Parliament is at its lowest ebb in living memory".
Convicted prisoners do not need moral authority to vote because this has never been a qualification for the franchise in the UK.
On the other hand, those in Parliament need the moral authority to legitimately govern.
Why are those without moral authority in Parliament denying convicted prisoners their human right to vote?
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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