Grayling defends stand-off with ECHR on prisoner votes

Chris Grayling today defended the Government’s decision to square up to the European Court of Human Rights on prisoner votes. The Justice Secretary seemed to enjoy his hour and a half before the Justice Select Committee, and used it to make a number of typically forthright assertions about the criminal justice system.

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn attacked the minister for the government’s decision to refuse to give prisoners the vote, saying:

‘What message does this give to other countries if you are inviting the British parliament and judiciary to pick and choose which ECHR judgements it enacts or doesn’t enact? In any event, you could easily agree with the ECHR by a very minimal level of prisoner voting. What right does that give you then to criticise Hungary for its treatment of gay people and travellers, for Russia for its denial of public assembly in many cases. Does it not just diminish us and diminish the whole process?’