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Prisoners serving fewer than four years to get vote

17 December 2010

The government has announced that prisoners serving fewer than four years will be eligible to vote. The Cabinet Office statement said all offenders sentenced to four years or more would automatically be barred from registering to vote.

The decision comes after a European court ruling which the government is obliged to implement.

Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said law-abiding citizens would be "concerned" by the changes.

It comes on the same day that a man serving life for raping and murdering his seven-year-old niece lost an appeal over his right to vote.

Three judges unanimously dismissed the Court of Appeal hearing of 55-year-old Peter Chester - who is serving life for raping and strangling Donna Marie Gillbanks in Blackpool in 1977 - and refused him permission to go to the Supreme Court.

His legal team had argued denying him a vote was a "disproportionate" reaction and violated his human rights.

Five years ago, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled the UK's long-standing voting ban was unlawful.

'Right direction'

Mark Harper, minister for political and constitutional reform, said the changes were "not a choice, it is a legal obligation".

He said: "We are ensuring the most serious offenders will continue to be barred from voting.

"If the government failed to implement this judgement, we would not only be in breach of our international obligations but could be risking taxpayers' money in paying out compensation claims."

The sentencing judge will be able to remove the right to vote from some prisoners sentenced to fewer than four years, he added.

Mr Khan said nearly 29,000 prisoners serving sentences of four years or less would be given the vote as a result of the government's decision - including those who had committed crimes such as domestic violence, burglary, wounding and assault.

"Law-abiding citizens will be concerned that serious and violent offenders will have a say in who runs this country," he said.

But the director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon, said: "Enfranchising prisoners serving sentences of under four years is an important step in the right direction.

"However, it does not appear to meet the requirements of European Court judgements which state that the vast majority of prisoners should be able to vote."

Source: BBC UK News