My Lords, perhaps I may be forgiven for my second intrusion into the Committee by all those who are toiling so hard on it day after day.
It may be a bit trite, but in a democracy, all citizens are presumed to have the right to vote. That is the way by which they have a say in making the laws that govern them: demokratia. The Joint Committee of both Houses appointed to consider the draft voting eligibility (prisoners) Bill in 2013 concluded that the vote is a right, not a privilege. It does not have to be earned, and its removal without good reason undermines democratic legitimacy.
In the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the purposes of sentencing are said to be
“the punishment of offenders … the reduction of crime … the reform and rehabilitation of offenders … the protection of the public, and … the making of reparation by offenders to persons affected by their offences.”
Where does the disfranchisement of a prisoner come within those aims? It obviously has nothing to do with the reduction of crime, the protection of the public or the making of reparations. If it is regarded as an act of retribution, part of the punishment of offenders, it is doubtful that the prisoner thinks it significant in any way, compared with his loss of liberty.
This does not concern itself with proportionality: a prisoner loses the vote by the act of imprisonment, not by the nature of his crime. A person imprisoned for dangerous driving is in exactly the same position as a person serving a life sentence for rape or murder. Of course, unconvicted prisoners, convicted prisoners awaiting sentence and people imprisoned for either contempt of court or debt, remain eligible to vote.
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Your Lordships will remember that the first case in the European Court of Human Rights in 2001 was the case that made Mr David Cameron sick. In subsequent cases, the European court held that it was disproportionate for there to be an automatic and indiscriminate blanket disfranchisement of prisoners. It said there was a need to discriminate between less serious and more serious offences with some regard to individual circumstances. In his autobiography, Mr Jack Straw said with some pride that as Justice Secretary at the time he had
“kicked the issue into touch, first with one inconclusive public consultation, then with a second.”
When the matter came before the House of Commons in 2011 on a free vote Mr Cameron was very clear that prisoners should not have the vote:
“no one should be in any doubt: prisoners are not getting the vote under this Government”.—[Official Report, Commons, 24/10/12; col. 923.]
Mr Sadiq Khan confirmed that Labour’s policy was, and always had been, that prisoners should not have the vote.
Despite the views of the two largest parties, in its 2013 report the Joint Committee supported, by a majority, the restoration of the right to vote to those sentenced to imprisonment of 12 months or less. It concluded that, if the UK wanted to disobey the European Court of Human Rights decision in Hirst, our doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty gave us power to withdraw from the human rights convention system altogether, but while we are part of that system, as we still are, we incur obligations that cannot be the subject of cherry picking. Dominic Raab, currently the Lord Chancellor, but then not in office, said at the time of the committee’s report, in characteristically restrained tones,
“This report proposes the most politically spineless and morally confused of all the options floated to date. It would give the vote to imprisoned terrorists, rapists and paedophiles, in the vain hope that we can buy a compromise with Strasbourg.”
I have yet to hear of any terrorist, rapist or paedophile sent to prison for only 12 months or less, which was the recommendation of the committee that he was criticising.
In the dispute with the European Court of Human rights, there was eventually a compromise with the Council of Europe, the guardian of the European convention, in 2018 when the UK Government agreed to allow prisoners released on temporary licence to vote in elections. The European court’s file was closed, but not the issue.
While England has stood still, Wales and Scotland have been more progressive. In Scotland, after extensive consultation, the Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation) Bill was passed in April 2020—the first Bill in the Scottish Parliament to receive a two-thirds supermajority of 92 votes to 27. The Scottish Bill extends the electoral franchise in local and Scottish elections to prisoners serving a sentence of less than 12 months, as the 2013 committee recommended for the whole of the UK. The franchise in Scotland now extends to anyone legally resident in Scotland, including refugees and those granted asylum.
In Wales, as a result of recent legislation, some 1,900 prisoners and 20 young offenders serving four years or less will be able to vote in the May elections for the first time and will ultimately be able to vote in elections for the Senedd. Some 37% of them are held in prisons in England, but they nevertheless will be able to register to vote in an area in Wales with which they can show a positive connection. In the consultation period for the Welsh Bill, the Senedd’s Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee visited Parc prison in Bridgend and spoke to prisoners. Some said that although they were in prison, they still had children, family and friends outside who were affected by political decisions. Political choices by the Government have an
impact on the lives of prisoners and the prisoners wanted to have a stake in society. Their complaint was that they were told that prison is about rehabilitation and reintegration, but when it came to voting, they were not to be entrusted with the vote.
So there it is. Mr Raab can choose, with all his bluster about terrorists, rapists and paedophiles, to inflict a Victorian-type civic death on an offender the moment the prison doors clang shut. It is done under the Forfeiture Act 1870 of 150 years ago. It is a relic of Locke’s heavily criticised 1689 theory of the social contract. What does that achieve in the 21st century? In Europe, it aligns us with Russia and Belarus, not the overwhelming majority of European countries that now permit prisoners to exercise their right to vote. Today, this modest amendment will return the franchise to those sentenced to one year’s imprisonment or less. I beg to move.