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Coroners and Justice Bill

I rise in the same spirit as the noble Lord, Lord Lester. It will certainly not be the first time I have spoken to an amendment that did not have a snowball’s chance in hell. I have always been somewhat bemused by why the Government have been so resistant to this ruling, so unprepared to see the link between participation in civic life and rehabilitation and, as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, has explained, so dismissive in this case of their international human rights obligations. The decision of the European Court was not a weird aberration made by a group of people devoid of any common sense. Six out of eight of them in the original judgment came from countries to which democracy had returned only in the past 15 years. They may have had a particular view of the importance of democratic rights. It is not so outlandish to suggest that someone who is imprisoned, for example, for a short time, should still be able to vote. Research suggests that retention of such civic rights can be in a small way conducive to future rehabilitation. The suggestion by my noble friend Lord Ramsbotham that such a matter be dealt with by a guideline would perhaps get the Government off the hook and enable a responsible body of people to put their minds to it and assess the strength of the Government’s arguments against it. I quote from the European Court: ""The United Kingdom Government had asserted that the voting restrictions on prisoners were designed to prevent crime and punish offenders and to enhance civil responsibility and respect for the rule of law"." The inclusion of this matter within the work on guidelines would enable it to be considered thoughtfully, related to similar considerations about what should constitute the appropriate penalty for specific offences. It would enable the public to see that the matter had been given serious consideration over a range of cases rather than having been dealt with as a political football. I support the amendment.