The Council of Europe sets next year’s elections to Stormont, Holyrood and Cardiff Bay as the date by which it expects the UK government to allow prisoners to vote.
Could prisoners get the vote for the first time in next year’s elections to the devolved parliaments and assemblies? Following a meeting on Monday of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the group expressed:
“Profound regret that despite the repeated calls of the Committee, the United Kingdom general election was held on 6 May 2010 with the blanket ban on the right of convicted prisoners in custody to vote still in place.”
The concerns expressed came following a series of high profile rulings in Europe that have supported the principle of votes for prisoners.
In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of a prisoner who had been disenfranchised that denying those in prison the vote breached their right to vote under Article 3 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
By December 2009, following the court’s ruling, the Council of Europe concluded:
“The Committee expressed serious concern as regards the substantial delay in implementing the judgment which creates a significant risk that the next United Kingdom general election, which must take place by June 2010, will be performed in a way that fails to comply with the Convention.”
A similar warning was again made just before the election in March this year.
In publishing its latest ruling, the Council of Europe explicitly sets next year’s elections to Stormont, Holyrood and Cardiff Bay as the date by which it expects the UK government to comply with its’ and the Court of Human Rights’ rulings. The Council of Europe further pledged to review the issue again in September. However, any failure to comply could have series consequences for the UK.
As the Telegraph has explained:
“Britian could be the first country to fall foul of new powers which came into effect earlier this month allowing non-compliance proceedings in the Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg court, with potential sanctions including suspension or expulsion from the Council of Europe – a separate body from the European Union.”
Responding to the ruling, Christine O’Neil, head of Public Sector law at the Scottish based law firm Brodies commented:
“European ministers are essentially exhorting the UK to deal with this before next year’s Scottish elections.
“If action isn’t taken to change the position, it is inevitable there will be further challenges. The costs involved in dealing with applications to the court could be relatively substantial.”
For the Scottish Conservatives, its Justice Spokesman John Lamont was unequivocal:
“It would be bizarre if those who break the law got to decide who should make the law.”
And a spokesman for the Scottish Government commented:
“This [the committee’s] stance is not something we agree with or support but electoral reform is reserved.”
The calls by the Council of Europe on the issue of prisoner rights to vote may expose more fault lines among the Coalition partners. Speaking following the 2005 judgement by the European Court of Human Rights, Dominic Grieve, then the Shadow Attorney General, who now holds the position in the Government, described the proposition as “ludicrous”.
He said:
“Giving prisoners the vote would be ludicrous. If convicted rapists and murderers are given the vote, it will bring the law into disrepute and many people will see it as making a mockery of justice.”
Yet speaking in 2009, the former Lib Dem Justice Spokesman, David Howarth warned the then Labour Government:
“It is unacceptable for the government to pick and choose which human rights treaty obligations it fulfils just because it feels the issue is unpopular.”
17 Responses to “Should prisoners get the vote?”
Boris Watch
RT @leftfootfwd Should prisoners get the vote? http://bit.ly/am3Y4R < yes, if nothing else because only shit countries ban voting 100%
Rachel
RT @leftfootfwd: Should prisoners get the vote? http://bit.ly/am3Y4R
Philip Cane
RT @leftfootfwd: Should prisoners get the vote? http://bit.ly/am3Y4R
Steve Taylor
Of course prisoners should have the vote. It is a nonsense to suggest that we expect someone to contribute to civil society after their release when we exclude them from one of the most fundamental actions of that civil society whilst they are undergoing their ‘rehabilitation’.
The Lib Dems used to have a party policy in favour of giving prisoners the vote, but Menzies Campbell scrapped that in some populist speech on law and order in 2006.
Paul Crowley
This will change only when the EU starts imposing sufficiently heavy fines.