News story

Prisoner voting rights

Draft proposals to ensure that laws on prisoner voting comply with UK’s international legal obligations were outlined by Justice Secretary.

• From: Ministry of Justice and The Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP
• Published: 22 November 2012

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Draft proposals to ensure that laws on prisoner voting comply with the UK’s international legal obligations were outlined by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling today.

The draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill will be carefully examined by a Joint Committee of MPs and Peers from different political parties. It includes options to:

• Maintain the current ban on all convicted prisoners voting
• Allow prisoners sentenced to less than 6 months in prison to vote
• Allow prisoners sentence to less than 4 years in prison to vote.

Read the Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Draft Bill

Published 22 November 2012