can prisoners vote in the uk


Prisoners' voting rights: developments since May 2015 (649 KB, PDF). The judgment has also been criticised by some as an example of the misuse of human rights, in the sense that the ECtHR’s interpretation of Article 3 of Protocol No 1 went beyond the drafters’ intentions. MPs will debate three petitions on Monday 5 October 2020 in Westminster Hall at 6pm. In 2012, the Coalition Government of 2010-15 published a draft Bill which gave three options for the right to vote in UK Westminster Parliamentary and European Parliament elections: the status quo – an outright ban; a ban for prisoners sentenced to 4 years or more, or a ban for prisoners sentenced to more than 6 months. [4][5], A convicted person during the time that he is detained in a penal institution in pursuance of his sentence or unlawfully at large when he would otherwise be so detained is legally incapable of voting at any parliamentary or local government election. In 2005 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the UK was in breach of Article 3 of Protocol No 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to prisoner voting rights. Much tighter restrictions are likely to be imposed on pubs in areas with higher levels of the virus. But supporters of giving prisoners the vote say it could engage them further in society, reducing crime. The UK had argued in this Italian case that the judges had got it wrong in Hirst - but the court has instead reaffirmed that the UK's blanket ban on all convicted prisoners voting, regardless of the crime or sentence, is untenable. Legislation to lower the voting age and to rename the Assembly the Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament, passed in November 2019, did not address the issue of prisoner voting. Amending the legislation has caused controversy in the United Kingdom. The domestic courts rejected the challenge and one of the prisoners, John Hirst, then took his case to the ECtHR. The Council finally closed the case in September 2018. What's more, the European Court says that the international trend is to more prisoners being enfranchised. In December 2017 the UK Government came up with proposals that the Council of Europe said were sufficient to signify compliance with the 2005 ruling. The Bill as introduced made no mention of prisoner voting, but amendments brought forward by the Welsh Government in March 2020 would, if passed, allow prisoners sentenced to less than four years to register to vote in time for scheduled council election in 2022. The Council finally closed the case in September 2018. [13], Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, Scottish Parliament Constituencies and Electoral Regions, Welsh Parliament Constituencies and Electoral Regions, Measure of the National Assembly for Wales, Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Visa requirements for British Overseas Territories citizens, Post-Brexit United Kingdom relations with the European Union, ECHR judges rule on criminal voting rights, Council of Europe warns over UK's prisoner vote option, Votes for prisoners: UK told it must implement ECHR decisions, David Cameron: "Giving prisoners the vote makes me sick'". The Welsh Government’s Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill will not extend prisoner voting to Senedd Cymru elections. [10] Although Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General told a Select Committee that continuing the ban would keep the UK in breach of the Court's ruling[11] David Cameron told the Commons that "no one should be in any doubt" that the law would not be changed.

The responsibility for local and devolved elections in Scotland and Wales, including the franchise for those elections is now devolved. The Conservative Government’s Queen’s Speech in May 2015 did not refer to any plans to change the current legislative position, and David Cameron subsequently implied that the blanket ban on prisoner’s voting rights would not be changed while he remained Prime Minister. Inmates whose sentences fall between two general elections can vote in both – which arguably creates a lottery on voting rights for offenders.

Neither a response to the Committee nor a consultation on the Human Rights Act has yet been published. However, any prisoner serving a sentence that exceeds 12 months is legally incapable of voting.There are some other limited circumstances where a prisoner may meet the criteria to register to vote, for example they may be able to register if they are released on temporary … The current provisions are set out in Section 3 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. Even with these amendments, "[a]ll prisoners would be banned from voting if they were serving a custodial sentence", This page was last edited on 24 August 2020, at 16:28. On 6 October 2005, in the case of Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2), the ECtHR ruled that the UK’s current ban on all serving prisoners from voting, as defined by the 1983 Act, contravenes Article 3 of Protocol No 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which provides that signatory states should “hold free elections … under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people”. Scottish inmates serving less than 12 months could be given the right to vote under new legislation which has sparked widespread debate about the disenfranchisement of British prisoners. This House of Commons Briefing Paper analyses the debate over the voting rights of prisoners since May 2015, it also includes a concise summary of the main developments before May 2015. In March 2019, the Scottish Government completed a consultation on prisoner voting and how it can ensure compliance with ECtHR judgements. At present in the UK, only prisoners on remand are allowed to vote. Ministers promised to do the "minimum possible" to comply with the Strasbourg court's ruling and, in April last year, lost an appeal against the move. MPs, who have already voted against reforms, will be furious. Following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, the United Kingdom government was tasked with amending the Representation of the People Act 1983 which contains the clauses forbidding serving prisoners from being able to cast votes in any elections. Find out more about how we use cookies. In October 2015, in the case of Thierry Delvigne v Commune de Lesparre-Médoc and Préfet de la Gironde, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that a French law, which deprived certain convicted prisoners of the vote, was not an unlawful breach of the right of EU citizens to vote in elections for the EU Parliament, as protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Option 2 would retain the ban for prisoners jailed for over six months. In the 2005 Parliament, the Labour Government issued two consultations, one in 2006 and one in 2009. Even before 1983, prisoners in the UK weren't allowed to vote, which had been decided with the Forfeiture Act 1870.

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