Prisoners fight for the right to vote

Britain is one of the few places in the world with a blanket ban on inmates voting, despite a five-year old ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. Bulgaria, Romania and Armenia are among the other nations who deny convicts the right to vote.

While some countries allow truly universal suffrage, regardless of your crime, the European trend is to set a threshold on the type of misdemeanour or length of sentence. In other words, axe murderers are less likely to enjoy the right than tax cheats or burglars.

Since the 2005 ruling the government has held two consultations on the matter but has not yet changed the existing legislation. Last year it disagreed with the ruling but admitted that granting the right to some prisoners was legally unavoidable.

Justice Minister Michael Wills said, "We will ensure that […] the most serious and dangerous offenders held in custody will not be able to vote. Prisoners sentenced to more than four years' imprisonment will not be permitted to vote in any circumstances.”

If the four year rule were to be introduced it would give approximately 45% of inmates the right to vote.

Conservative opposition agree with government

If they do get the vote it is unlikely convicts will be voting for the main opposition party either.

The Daily Mail reports shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve as saying, "Civic rights go with civic responsibility, but these rights have been flagrantly violated by those who have committed offences.”

But Britain’s third party the Liberal Democrats are arguing that the government cannot pick and choose which human rights laws to obey and which to disregard.

The ban was enshrined into law 140 years ago by the 1870 Forfeiture Act. But now proponents of change argue that the majority of those currently serving time will be released at some point and should be encouraged to participate in society. Prisoners are threatening to sue if the change doesn’t come through in time for this year’s election.

John Hirst is the man who brought the British government to the European Court of Human Rights and won. He spent the previous 25 years serving time for manslaughter.

“The view that seems to be prevalent on this is that MPs believe that by giving prisoners the vote, they will actually lose votes themselves. It's not popular with the public," he said.

It remains to be seen whether the government and the main opposition will run the risk of contesting an unlawful election or if they change the law in the nick of time.