Sentences with phrase «prisoner voting»

The only thing that would be worse than giving prisoners the vote would be giving them the vote and having to pay them damages as well.

Both appear to be playing the long game, as they look to the controversial issue of prisoner voting to make their cases for them.

A former home secretary and a former shadow home secretary try to block plans to give prisoners the vote.

For example the UK is already not complying with several rulings, such as those on prisoner voting rights.

Mark Harper admits «exasperation» over prisoner voting rights as he faces the wrath of angry Tory MPs

Many Tories hoped it could replace the despised European Convention on Human Rights, which ties the hands of parliament on issues such as prisoner voting rights but also safeguards vital human rights provisions.

Continue reading «Mark Harper admits «exasperation» over prisoner voting rights as he faces the wrath of angry Tory MPs»»

«The UK's blanket ban on sentenced prisoners voting was declared unlawful by the grand chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in October 2005, as a result of a successful challenge by a prisoner, John Hirst.

It had frustrated eurosceptics over issues like prisoner voting and the deportation of Abu Qatada, and is now insisting no - one in jail should face the prospect of not being let out of prison before they die.

Parliament has subsequently voted overwhelmingly in favour of denying prisoners the vote.

No wonder the thought of prisoner voting makes David Cameron physically ill.

Even with the radioactive issue of prisoner votes excised from the draft, pending a Government appeal, Mr Clarke is expecting trouble.

Former attorney general says ruling on prisoner voting by European court of human rights offers way out from split

Prime Minister David Cameron is challenged to resist EU pressure to grant UK prisoners the vote.

He told the party conference that the Cabinet would have featured disgraced ex-Lib Dem minister Chris Huhne - elevated to «Lord Huhne of Wormwood Scrubs» - championing prisoner voting rights and «Baron» Len McCluskey, with the Unite leader abolishing Margaret Thatcher's trade union reforms.

The Court fails utterly to engage in the criminal justice issues underlying prisoner voting bans.

The issue of prisoner votes returned to the courtroom this week, with an unsurprising judgment on many fronts.

Prison governors and chief inspectors of prisons have supported giving prisoners the vote because they see it as a way for them to exercise responsibility.

Britain will have to continue its fight with the European court of human rights for a decade if it is to protect the ban on prisoner voting, David Davis has warned parliament.

The UK's ban on sentenced prisoners voting, based on the 19th century concept of civic death, has no place in a modern democracy and is legally and morally unsustainable.

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Grieve's exit has cleared the way for the Conservative party to clash more directly with the European court of human rights as he had cautioned over defying the Strasbourg authority on issues like prisoner voting.

Lord Neuberger went on to make clear that although, at times, he strongly disagreed with some Strasbourg judgments, there were very few of its decisions which he considered «misconceived», re-emphasising that the occasional, high profile cases such as prisoners voting rights, regardless of whether the Strasbourg judgment is misreported, hardly represents the preponderance of fair, sensible and logical decisions.

«When the previous Government consulted on this matter, the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve), who was then the shadow Secretary of State for Justice and is now the Attorney - General, described the prospect of giving prisoners the vote as «ludicrous».

Labour's Jack Straw is joining forces with Conservative David Davis in an attempt to block plans to give thousands of prisoners the vote.

Figures reveal that 1,780 criminals convicted of violent or sexual offences would be eligible to vote in England and Wales under plans to give prisoners voting rights.

Buoyed by their victory on the prisoner vote, they will not shy away from a fight.

The other issue is who would the prisoners vote for?

For example, on the democracy side, I'm not aware of any country that gives children the vote but prisoners voting is more varied.

Prisoner voting may yet prove the decisive in undermining public confidence in the ECHR, thus paving the way for the bill of rights Grieve and co had planned so extensively for.

However, besides addressing some of the recent controversies in the UK human rights landscape such as deporting suspected terrorists and prisoner voting, the Conservative Manifesto does not provide much detail on what specifically a British Bill of Rights will contain and how it will differ from the HRA.

Will the Minister provide details of the precise mechanics that prisoner voting will entail?

Of course, the beauty of such a policy is that the government could look the ECHR in the eye and say, honestly, that it had scrapped its blanket ban on prisoners voting, thus avoiding the threat of fines.

Some British politicians have also floated the idea of leaving the European Court of Human Rights, in part because of politically unpopular decisions such as on prisoner voting.

Occasionally I think the European court of human rights gets it badly wrong, such as over prisoner voting but there is a point, which is that the United Kingdom is at the heart of an international system of law... I think there are 13,200 treaties that we've signed since the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

«The Hirst judgment says that article 3 of protocol 1 of the European convention on human rights obliges this House to give some prisoners the vote; as we have heard, it also gives rise to financial compensation to some prisoners who have been denied that right.

The UK is out of step with all but five Council of Europe countries, as well as many developed states around the world, when it comes to prisoners voting.

This is despite the view of his own attorney general, Dominic Grieve, that the UK's international reputation would suffer if Britain was seen to be breaking its treaty obligations by continuing to fail to comply with the original 2004 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights against our outdated blanket ban on sentenced prisoners voting.

This would result in more than 28,000 prisoners voting.

Speaking to Lib Dem councillors in London, Sir Menzies ditched the party's policy of giving all prisoners the vote, which was advocated by Mr Kennedy at the last general election to much criticism from Labour and the Tories.

Clarke's defiant stance on prisoner voting and more community sentences is at odds not just with Conservative core voters but many Labour core voters — in other words, a lot of voters, as the Sun and Daily Mail have noticed.

We must defy Strasbourg on prisoner votes, argue Jack Straw and David Davis in the Daily Telegraph

«The ECHR did have an expansionist phase and that broadly came to an end after parliament's decision on prisoner votes.

John Hirst, who was convicted of manslaughter in 1980 and took took the Government to court on prisoners voting, defends his own actions in a lively interview with Andrew Neil.

The UK has a «legal obligation» to let some prisoners vote under a 2005 European ruling, a minister has said.

Former deputy PM John Prescott said the UK has no choice but to give prisoners the vote and criticised Conservatives MPs asking David Cameron to reverse the decision.