Should prisoners be allowed to vote in elections?
Convicted prisoners detained in prison cannot vote in UK Parliament or English, Welsh and Northern Irish local elections, under section 3 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. Remand prisoners, civil prisoners and those on home detention curfew or temporary licence can vote. In Scotland, people serving sentences of 12 months or less can vote in devolved and local elections. The 2005 European Court of Human Rights ruling in Hirst v UK found the blanket ban unlawful, and the 2017 administrative changes led the Council of Europe to close the case in 2018. Research in 2023 found that turnout among eligible prisoners is very low.
5 Opinions
Voting in the UK should be limited to adult UK citizens who remain permanent UK residents and are not current prisoners or out on parole.
No, and it should be extended to include all prisoners released on licence for the remainder of their sentence.
Why should someone who violated fellow citizens' rights get to vote on the laws governing them? You lose freedom, you lose the vote.
Absolutely they should. Everyone who lives permanently in the UK should have a democratic right to have a say in how it's run.
There are enough criminals in parliament without convicts voting for them in the first place.