Convicted criminals could end up voting for police chiefs from their prison cells under controversial Coalition plans.
By Patrick Hennessy 9:00PM GMT 11 Dec 2010
On Monday MPs will debate the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill which will pave the way for a single directly-elected police commissioner in each force area.
Ministers are expected to extend voting rights to prisoners following a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling - and nowhere in the lengthy new legislation is it ruled out that convicts will be able to take part in elections for commissioners.
If such an outcome occurs, Britain will become the only place in the world other than two US states - Maine and Vermont - where inmates can vote on such matters, according to House of Commons researchers.
The plans for elected police chiefs have faced claims they risk politicising the police and over the cost of bringing in the changes at a time when the government is imposing 20 per cent cuts to police funding.
The Association of Police Authorities (APA) has estimated that the cost of the changes, including the elections, will be £100million – the equivalent of 600 full time police officers.
Ministers will tomorrow set out cuts to each police force in England and Wales after the spending review announced funding cuts for policing – the same day that the costly police reforms will be debated in Parliament.
Ed Balls, the shadow home secretary, said: "At a time when the government is slashing police funding by twenty per cent people will rightly be angry that the government can find £100 million for a new set of politicians.
"But to make matters worse we're set to be the first country in the world, alongside two small states in America, where convicted criminals can vote for police chiefs from inside their prison cells.
"Ministers have failed to include anything in the legislation to rule this out. It is madness and we will oppose these plans. They risk politicising the police at huge cost to the public just when thousands of police officers are being cut."
The coalition decided it had no choice but to extend voting rights to prisoners after a long-running wrangle in which government lawyers advised that failure to comply with a 2004 ECHR ruling could cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds in litigation costs and compensation.
David Cameron was said to be "exasperated and furious" at having to accept that there was no way of keeping the UK's 140-year-old blanket ban on sentenced prisoners voting.
It is thought the ban could be retained for murderers and others serving life sentences, and that judges may be given responsibility for deciding which criminals should be allowed to vote when they are sentenced.
No comments:
Post a Comment