HL Deb 20 October 2003 vol 653 cc142-3WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether denying prisoners the right to vote affects their ability to persuade Ministers of the Crown and those responsible for the Prison Service to improve the conditions in which they are imprisoned; and [HL4524]

Whether denying prisoners the right to vote amounts to an additional punishment; and whether this is compatible with Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as interpreted by the United Nations Human Rights Committee. [HL4523]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal)

It has been the view of successive governments that prisoners convicted of a crime serious enough to warrant imprisonment have lost the moral authority to vote. The working party on electoral procedures, which examined and reviewed all electoral arrangements after the general election held in 1997, published its findings on 19 October 1999. It could find no reason to change the existing system in which convicted prisoners found guilty of a crime serious enough to warrant imprisonment are denied the right to vote for the duration of their imprisonment.

Prisoners have a variety of ways in which they can express their views about conditions in prison, including by writing to their Member of Parliament— and many do so.

Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights covers the rights of the individual to be involved in public affairs and to vote in periodic free elections without unreasonable restrictions. The covenant has not been incorporated into English law, but the UK is signed up to the covenant.

Parliament has decided that convicted prisoners have forfeited their right to have a say in the way the country is governed for the period during which they are in custody. This temporary disenfranchisement pursues a legitimate aim and is proportionate, and is considered a reasonable restriction within the terms of Article 25. It does not, in our view, affect the substance of Article 25, which is concerned with universal franchise and the free expression of the people in the choice of legislature. Long-standing precedent set by the European Court of Human Rights upholds that certain sections of society, including convicted prisoners, can be excluded from voting.