An insult to Britain and democracy

An insult to Britain and democracy

By Daily Mail Comment
Last updated at 8:17 AM on 13th April 2011

Gauntlet: The insistence of Europe that Britain must give its prisoners the vote dares action from the UK

In a resounding snub to our democracy, five European judges overrule the emphatic will of Britain's parliament and people and insist that prisoners in the UK must be given the vote.

Just two months after MPs voted overwhelmingly to keep our 140-year-old ban, the European Court of Human Rights refuses even to consider the Government's appeal against its award of compensation to disenfranchised convicts.

And adding a further insult, the five judges issue an ultimatum: If we don't bring forward new laws within six months – and enact them within a time-frame to be decided by Europe – the court will begin ordering payments totalling up to £150million to killers and other convicts.

This intolerable ruling throws down a gauntlet to the Government.

Will ministers now look seriously at the possibility of disengaging Britain from the jurisdiction of a court that, time and again, has affronted our traditions of justice and common sense.

Or will they meekly accept it?

If so, they'll be acknowledging that our status as a sovereign nation is at an end.

Comment: I don't see it as an insult to be put in one's rightful place. The UK has been found guilty of human rights violations which show that the UK is not a democracy.

There is nothing intolerable about the Court ruling. What is intolerable is that the UK thought it could ignore the ruling. Rather than throwing down the gauntlet to the Government, the Government threw down the gauntlet to the Court and the Court picked it up and slapped the UK in the face with it. In other words, the Court rose to meet the bullying challenge from the UK.

It is laughable that the Daily Mail claims that the UK has a sense of justice and common sense. It is precisely because these are lacking that the Court ruled against the UK. The Mail's response is to call for the UK to take its ball home.

Of course the UK will meekly accept the ruling. The UK has got no option. The UK signed away some of our sovereignty when we joined the Council of Europe.