Prisoner vote bill to be outlined

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 18 November 2012 | 19.21

18 November 2012 Last updated at 07:03 ET
John Hirst

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Convicted killer John Hirst, who took the government to court over the issue, spoke to the BBC in 2010

The government's draft bill on prisoner voting is to be outlined by the justice secretary on Thursday, the BBC understands.

Its options could include votes for those serving less than six months, or those serving less than four years.

Friday is the deadline for the UK to comply with a European ruling that a current blanket ban is unlawful.

Sources had told the BBC there would be a vote on Thursday, but this was denied by a justice ministry source.

The source would not elaborate further on whether MPs will be given a free vote at a later date.

BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said a third option on the draft bill would be no votes at all.

'Clear' right

In February 2011 the Commons voted overwhelmingly against giving votes to prisoners and there is a risk that this week's vote could set up another clash with the ECHR.

Last month David Cameron told the Commons: "No-one should be under any doubt - prisoners are not getting the vote under this government."

At present, the only prisoners allowed to vote in the UK are those on remand.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, who replaced Ken Clarke in a reshuffle in September, told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show last month that Parliament had a "clear" right not to accept the ECHR ruling.

But he warned: "The reality is that we are signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.

"If we therefore choose to disagree with a ruling from that court, we have to understand that we are taking a significant step outside that international commitment."

He said he was "thinking very carefully about how we do the right thing for the UK".

Attorney General Dominic Grieve has previously warned that defying the Strasbourg court could be seen "as a move away from our strict adherence to human rights laws".

The ECRH ruled in 2005 it was a breach of human rights to deny prisoners a vote.

The court said it was up to individual countries to decide which inmates should be denied the right to vote from jail, but that a total ban was illegal.


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