Parliament must vote again on whether to give prisoners the vote, as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that the UK’s blanket bank on votes for prisoners is unlawful.
The Court has given the Government until Friday to comply with the ruling, so a draft bill will be published on Thursday, which will give MPs three options; one will be votes for prisoners who have been imprisoned for four years or less, one will be votes for those who get sentences of six months or less and one will be no votes for prisoners at all.
In February, MPs voted by a massive 234 to 22 for the blanket ban to continue and Prime Minister David Cameron has made it clear that he will not allow prisoners to get the vote while he is in charge, saying that “no-one should be in any doubt; prisoners are not getting the vote under this government”.
There is still strong cross-party agreement on the issue of prisoners’ votes and it is widely accepted that any vote by MPs would see a continuation of the total ban.
However, the Attorney General Dominic Grieve has warned against defying the ECHR, as he says that the Court’s ruling imposes an international legal obligation on the UK and that the Government could be fined if it does not comply.
While Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has said that there would be “consequences” for the UK’s position in Europe if MPs continue to impose the blanket ban.
The ECHR agreed in 2005 that it was acceptable for individual member states to decide which prisoners should be denied the vote but insisted that a blanket ban was illegal.