Government concession to settle prisoner voting rights issue

The longrunning human rights dispute over prisoner voting in the UK appears to have been settled.

A concession by the UK Government that would see about 100 prisoners in England & Wales released on temporary licence being able to vote, has been accepted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the body which supervises the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

Judgments by the court since 2005 have found the UK's blanket ban on prisoner voting to be in breach of article 3 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (right to free elections), while leaving it to the UK to come up with proposals as to which categories of prisoners to exempt. Successive UK Governments have resisted making concessions on the issue, until the present Justice Secretary, David Lidington, put forward proposals last month which he said would address an "anomaly" in the system.

This referred to the fact that prisoners wearing an electronic tag in the community are currently able to vote, but those let out on temporary licence cannot.

The Committee of Ministers said it accepted the plan "with satisfaction" and "strongly encouraged" the Government to implement it as soon as possible.

Mr Lidington said no offenders would be granted release in order to vote as a result of the changes. In a note to the court, the Government said it would "change its policy and guidance to prisons to make clear that prisoners can register to vote, and can vote, while released on temporary licence. Most prisoners eligible to vote under this proposal would likely be on short sentences, and will have been granted temporary release, primarily for employment-related reasons".

The Government will also work with the judiciary to change the warrant of committal to prison to ensure that prisoners are individually notified of their disenfranchisement.