Thursday 10 February 2011

votes for prisoners

a lot of nonsense is being spouted in some of the British media on this topic, being debated in the Commons as I write.  Individuals can bring applications to the European Court of Human Rights, but those applications are only admissible if all domestic legal avenues have been exhausted.  In fact the issue of votes for prisoners has been before the House before, in 2005 as a private member's bill, at which time it was supported by Ken Clarke, former Tory Home Secretary Douglas Hurd, and Simon Hughes for the LibDems, among many others, including the Prison Reform Trust. An event to promote the bill was presided over by Hurd and Hughes in the Commons. The bill was ultimately withdrawn, not because of any pressure from the then Government whips, but because of irresponsible antics by some Tory election candidates.  In fact there is no proposal, nor any need under the European Convention of Human Rights and the Court's judgment, for any government to give all prisoners the right to vote no matter what their offence.  The Court has ruled that the right to vote may not be removed from all prisoners regardless of their offence.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, quite.

Hurd, of course, was a reforming and humane Home Secretary. A shame that so many of the Tory backwoodsmen, currently plumping (literally) the backbenches are moronic hangers and floggers.

Unknown said...

Oh wow. I am so lost.

Politics are already not my strong suit, but then British politics, of which I know nothing. Maybe I can learn something if I can grasp some frame of reference.

Or is it early Alzheimer's that's claiming my mind?

Just stupid? :-)

Anonymous said...

Hurd humane? WTF? With Major, Rifkind etc he was responsible for the torture and death of thousands in the Balkans when he was Foreign Secretary. The man needs to be sent to the Hague for complicity in War crimes the way he let the murderers get away with it.

Anonymous said...

Bollocks.

He was anything but a brutalist.

Prevented Thatcher from bringing back hanging - started Community Orders instead of jail -- started to TRY to get education programmes going on for prisoners and to assist them TO GET WORK when they left jail and not be just shunted back again.

Stop the bloody rhetoric and look at the record. I suppose you think Disraeli was a shit too?
And no I am not a member of the Tory Patry. Just a bloody Labour Party member -sorry - not of the Stalinist tenedency that seems to predominate these days. And - as we are talking Stalin - can we now look at the BLUNKETT record. Pretty please?!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Porn Princess Jaqui Smith is on Question Time REPRESENTING THE LABOUR PARTY.

I have now seen it all

Anonymous said...

And she is now in a plastic mac, outside a Soho sex shop, promoting her Radio 5 programme on porn.

Onwards and upwards, Jacs, my love. House of Lords next!