Prisoners: Voting Rights

Lord Robathan Excerpts

Thursday 16th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Buscombe]

My Lords, I think the House is showing that there is a difference of opinion on this subject. I hear what the noble and learned Lord has said, but I must also make clear that at a Committee of Ministers human rights meeting in December 2016 my right honourable friend in another place, the Minister of State for Courts and Justice, Sir Oliver Heald MP, focused on this issue of prisoner voting and said that the UK would provide further information on its planned approach in December 2017. This is a complex—I would rather call it a difficult—issue and not one that we are ignoring. We are considering it and will be there in December when the Council of Europe will review the UK’s ban on prisoners voting.

[Lord Robathan]

My Lords, I wonder if my noble friend the Minister can help the House. The 2010 Conservative Party manifesto included a British Bill of Rights, which would have withdrawn us from the convention. Was it similarly a Conservative Party manifesto commitment in 2015 to have a British Bill of Rights, because that would sort out the issue just mentioned by the noble and learned Lord? By the way, I do not think Putin has needed any encouragement from us to behave in the way he has.

[Baroness Buscombe]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for making that point. I want to stress that the UK has a proud tradition of respect for human rights which long predates the Human Rights Act 1998, brought in by the then Government. This Government remain committed to reforming our domestic human rights framework. We will consider the Bill of Rights further once we know the arrangements for our EU exit and we will consult fully on our proposals in the knowledge of the new constitutional landscape that will have been created.