Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions the Government has had with the Council of Europe on the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights that a blanket ban against prisoner voting contravenes Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Government is clear that convicted prisoners in custody should not vote. At the same time, we are addressing an anomaly which allows those offenders on Home Detention Curfew to vote but not offenders who are released on temporary licence

We believe these administrative proposed measures address the points raised in the 2005 Hirst judgment on prisoner voting rights by the European Court of Human Rights. The measures will be considered by Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers at their meeting in Strasbourg in December.