Conservatives: Ludicrous to give prisoners the vote

Friday, 07, Oct 2005 12:00

The Tories have dismissed suggestions that prisoners should be given the vote following a European Court of Human Rights ruling that preventing them participating in national and local elections is a violation of their human rights.

"Giving prisoners the vote would be ludicrous," said shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve, insisting that it would reduce confidence in the entire criminal justice system.

"The courts have ruled that convicted prisoners, many of them dangerous, cannot be allowed to take part in normal society for the duration of their sentence. Why therefore should they have a say in how that society is run?

"If convicted rapists and murderers are given the vote it will bring the law into disrepute and many people will see it as making a mockery of justice."