Attorney General Dominic Grieve escalates row on votes for prisoners
The chasm between the Prime Minister and his Attorney-General
appeared as wide as ever last night as Dominic Grieve reiterated his
view that Britain has a legal obligation to consider granting voting
rights to prisoners.
Within hours of Mr Grieve's evidence to the Justice Committee on
Wednesday, that the UK risked damaging its reputation if it ignored a
European Court of Human Rights judgment that it must lift a blanket ban
on electoral rights for inmates, David Cameron had dismissed the
suggestion.
"Prisoners are not getting the vote under this Government," he told MPs.
But last night, giving the keynote speech at the BPP Law School, Mr Grieve, pictured, said that although the ultimate decision lay with Parliament, which was not subservient to the Strasbourg court, "observing its judgments is an international legal obligation... It is possible for Parliament to take no action on the judgment, although that would leave the Government in breach of the Treaty and liable to criticism and sanctions from the Council of Europe by its fellow signatories and to damages awarded by the Court".
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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