David Davis and Jack Straw have joined forces to resist the enforcement of prisoner voting rights, an emotive issue bequeathed to
the hapless coalition by the previous government. Beside the obvious moral question concerning prisoners’ rights, Davis hopes to open a second front in the struggle over sovereignty with the
European Union. He told Politics Home:
‘There are two main issues here. First is whether or not it is moral or even decent to give the vote to rapists, violent offenders or sex offenders. The second is whether it is proper for the European court to overrule a Parliament.’
Unless Davis has confused his articles, his second point is invalid. This decision has nothing to do with the European Court or the European Union. The judgement (with which I and others disagreed in principle) was made by the European Court of Human Rights in 2005.
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