Prisoners’ voting rights

Prisoners serving a custodial sentence do not have the right to vote. Prisoners on remand are able to vote under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act 2000 in the United Kingdom.

This Standard Note provides a narrative of events following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on 6 October 2005, the Hirst case, that the UK’s current ban on all serving prisoners from voting contravenes Article 3 of Protocol No 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

• Primary Source

United Kingdom: House of Commons: Library: Standard Notes: SN/PC/06480 (15.01.14): Prisoners' voting rights - in brief http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN06480

UK: Supreme Court: Speech, 08.08.14: Lord Neuberger at a conference at the Supreme Court of Victoria, Melbourne http://supremecourt.uk/docs/speech-140808.pdf

Belfast Telegraph, 12.08.14: Courts 'too ready' to follow ECHR http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/courts-too-ready-to-follow-echr-30499202.html

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