MEP outraged over view to give prisoners the vote

Euro-MP Paul Nuttall

The coalition government wants to give prisoners the right to vote.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg wants the Liberal Democrats’ policy to be put into law as soon as possible, bringing Britain in line with human rights rulings from European judges.

The Prisoners right to vote discussion has been ongoing since 2005, when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the ban on prisoners voting was unlawful.

The Liberal Democrats were highly critical of the Labour government's refusal to allow the prison population the right to vote, while the Conservatives have consistently avoided addressing the issue.

Paul Nuttall, North-West MEP and member of the UK Independence Party, was outraged at the possibility of this coming to pass. He said: “I cannot believe that the coalition government wants to give prisoners the right to vote, if you were a criminal in prison would you vote for someone who would be hard on criminals or someone who is going to be soft on sentences etc, there would only be one answer.

“Surely those that have ended up in prison have effectively declared that they do not want to be a part of our society and, in my opinion, they have given up their right to have a say in how we are governed.

“The Lib Dems are always trying to bring us in line with Europe, they are always trying to bring us in line with EU laws and Nick Clegg is trying to bring this through the coalition government.

“I don’t know if it’s a condition of the coalition agreement but Nick Clegg is certainly pushing for it.

“The underlying point here is that this is just another step of bringing us into line with the rest of the European Union, at the expense of what the British people think.”

Labour MEP Brian Simpson echoed these thoughts, he said: "I don't think prisoners should get the right to vote. Whilst in prison they have lost the freedom to vote.

"It isn't a problem when they are out of prison but whilst they are there they have lost that freedom."