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Voting by Prisoners

My hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) is right in much of what he says. He does not have a lot of support in the House today, but I agree with him that we ought to have another debate to consider the issues in greater detail and singly. This issue is far more complex than it at first appears, and certainly more than the Daily Mail and others would have us believe. There is no question of criminals who have been convicted of serious crimes being given the vote as a result of today's debate. The ECHR does not require it, the Government do not propose it and the vast majority of the British people—and, I think, of Members of this place—are firmly against it. The Select Committee on Political and Constitutional Reform took evidence last week, and we published a short report in an attempt to inform the debate. I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Claire Perry) mentioned that, and that other Members have said that, after listening to the debate and reading the Committee's report, they have thought about the matter more carefully than before. The point made by the court in the case of Hirst is that"““there has to be a sufficient and discernible link between the conduct and the nature of the punishment.””" As Lord Mackay told the Committee last week,"““if somebody commits a crime of serious violence…one can argue…that is a fundamental attack on the basic human rights of the victim…and, therefore, it is perfectly reasonable, as part of the punishment, that the deprivation of the right to vote should be imposed.””"