Mark Harper misleads Parliament!
Govt to appeal on prisoner votes
The Government is to appeal against the European Court of Human Rights decision on prisoner votes, the Cabinet Office has confirmed to PoliticsHome. In a response to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Gordon Marsden, Cabinet Office Under-Secretary Mark Harper said: "We believe that the court should look again at the principles in "Hirst" which outlaws a blanket ban on prisoners voting, particularly given the recent debate in the House of Commons."
Comment: ECHR Article 44 – Final judgments (1) The judgment of the Grand Chamber shall be final. Article 46 – Binding force and execution of judgments 1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to abide by the final judgment of the Court in any case to which they are parties. 2. The final judgment of the Court shall be transmitted to the Committee of Ministers, which shall supervise its execution. All that remains is for the UK to fully comply with Hirst v UK (No2). The Council of Europe has already stated that there is no negotiation and no going back only fully complying with the judgment.
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.
I've commented on this too John.
ReplyDeleteBB: I have just done a longer post saying thatr Europe must stand up to the UK on this issue and call its bluff.
ReplyDeleteI don't only think the EU should confront the Coalition over this, I feel the British public should demand that this government gets it sorted now, otherwise it is going to be a festering sore that is going to distract the government from putting this country back on it's feet.
ReplyDeleteBB: The EU has not yet confronted the UK over this issue. However I expect it will if not resolved by June. So far, it is just the Council of Europe doing the confronting.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the public should pressure the Coalition to abide by the UK's obligations under the Convention.
However, the fact that my case was actually against the State; Executive, Parliament and Judiciary, between the 3 of them they should sort it. Under European law there is the subsidiarity principle and Europe expects public authorities to remedy the breach of human rights. If they don't then Europe will decide that there is a systemic failure and further intervene unless the UK withdraws from Europe altogether.