Posted on July 17, 2011 by Phillip Lee

Since I became the MP for Bracknell in May 2010, life has been hectic. My role as an MP includes a range of different tasks and in broad terms my responsibilities fall into three main groups: my constituents, Parliament and my political Party. My daily Parliamentary duties include participating in debates and voting on legislation. One of the issues that we voted on last week and which has caused much debate both in the media and among MPs, is the issue of prisoners’ right to vote.

Today, the vast majority of prison inmates are denied the right to vote: the only groups that are allowed to vote are those who are on remand, people imprisoned for contempt of court, and fine defaulters held in prison. In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that UK was in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights by denying prisoners the right to vote. As a result of this, the Government have stated that it will bring forward legislation which replaces the blanket ban in the existing law. Consequently, offenders sentenced to a custodial sentence of less than four years will have the right to vote, but ministers are examining the possibility for enabling the sentencing judge to remove that right if appropriate. Offenders sentenced to four years or more will lose the right to vote in all circumstances.

The Government’s plans to give prisoners the right to vote has been met by much criticism from both sides of the House of Commons, and a cross-party motion calling for the retention of the status quo was voted on last week. 234 MPs, an overwhelming majority of 212, voted in favour of the motion, demonstrating the strong opposition within Parliament for giving prisoners the right to vote. Among my colleagues, there is a strong sense that this decision is being forced on us against the will of both the Government, the MPs and their constituents.

The Government now has an August deadline to introduce legislation that will ensure that we stay within the laws of the European Court of Human Rights. After that, the European judges would start to award damages in more than 2,500 outstanding claims from prisoners who are being excluded from European and general elections. The bill is already estimated to be at least £70 million but the average compensation could increase the longer the defiance goes on.

As the vote last week was only a backbench motion, following Parliamentary procedures, the result is not binding on the Government. However, the 234 to 22 margin of victory sends a strong signal to Downing Street and the European court of human rights in Strasbourg that any legislation lifting the blanket ban on prisoners’ voting will have a tough time getting through parliament. My hope is that prisoners never get the right to vote.