In his speech earlier this week the Attorney General announced that he would appear in person before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in two weeks’ time, when it hears Scoppola v Italy No2, a case concerning prisoner voting. The United Kingdom is due to intervene in this case, for reasons [...]
Archive for the ‘Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections’ Category
Is the Attorney General right on prisoner votes and subsidiarity? – Dr Ed Bates
Posted in Article 13 | Effective remedy, European, In the news, International, Politics / Public Order, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged European Court of Human Rights on October 27, 2011 | 9 Comments »
Prisoner votes and the democratic deficit
Posted in European, In the news, Margin of Appreciation, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections on September 20, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I posted recently on the ongoing saga surrounding the UK’s implementation of the Hirst No. 2 case, in which the European Court of Human Rights found that the UK’s blanket ban on prisoners voting was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The correspondence between the court and the UK Government is now available and [...]
UK may not have to give prisoners the vote after all
Posted in In the news, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections on September 8, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The Ministry of Justice has just released its annual report to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Responding to human rights judgments. The report is worth reading. It contains useful summaries of the 17 European Court of Human Rights judgments against the UK in 2010 and the government’s response to them. But what is really [...]
Tick tock tick tock
Posted in Case summaries, European, In the news, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged prisoner votes on April 13, 2011 | 12 Comments »
The clock is ticking again on prisoner votes. The European Court of Human Rights has rejected the UK government’s latest appeal in the long-running saga. The UK had attempted to appeal the recent decision in Greens and M.T. v. the United Kingdom. The full background can be found in my previous post, in which I predicted [...]
Prisoner votes: EU won’t help
Posted in Case summaries, European, In the news, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections on April 13, 2011 | 3 Comments »
George McGeogh for Judicial Review of the Compatibility with the Petitioner’s EU law rights of the Decision of the Electoral Registration Officer , Outer House, Court of Session [2011] CSOH 65, 08 April 2011 (Lord Tyre) – Read opinion This was an attempt by a prisoner to argue that his disenfranchisement under Section 3 of the Representation [...]
All bets are off for prisoner votes
Posted in In the news, Politics / Public Order, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections on March 16, 2011 | 6 Comments »
As well as blaming bloggers for media frenzies in yesterday’s Law in Action interview, the Attorney General also made some interesting comments on the UK’s bold new tactic on prisoner votes (see my post on Monday), which is effectively to try to appeal an unappealable ruling. He said (from 19:20) that the UK “takes its responsibility seriously” [...]
An unappealing tactic on prisoner votes?
Posted in In the news, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged prisoner votes on March 14, 2011 | 26 Comments »
I recently compared the prisoner votes issue to a ping-pong ball in a wind tunnel. The latest twist in the saga is that the UK government is seeking to overturn the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling in Hirst No. 2. This is certainly a daring tactic, given that the ruling by the Grand Chamber [...]
Prisoners not entitled to compensation for voting ban
Posted in Case law, Case summaries, In the news, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections on February 19, 2011 | Comments Off
Tovey & Ors v Ministry of Justice [2011] EWHC 271 (QB) (18 February 2011) – read judgment. In a case heard the day before Parliament debated whether it should amend the law preventing prisoners from voting, the High Court struck out a claim for compensation by a prisoner in respect of his disenfranchisement. Although it [...]
Prisoner votes: a ping pong ball in a wind tunnel
Posted in European, In the news, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged prison vote, prisoner votes on February 10, 2011 | 10 Comments »
Updated | Parliament is currently debating on whether prisoners should be given the vote. The motion can be found here and you can watch the debate on Parliament TV. A Washington Post correspondent recently said US President Barack Obama had been “bounding around like a ping-pong ball in a wind tunnel” on to the situation [...]
Prisoner voting and the £160m question
Posted in In the news, Politics / Public Order, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged prisoner vote on January 20, 2011 | 9 Comments »
The government has reportedly revised its plan to allow prisoners serving less than 4 years to vote in elections. Ministers now seek to limit the right to those sentenced to a year or less. A looming presence in the debate has been the much-touted figure of £160m compensation which the prime minister has warned Parliament [...]
Court of appeal rejects prisoner vote plea, government announces plans
Posted in Case summaries, European, In the news, Politics / Public Order, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged prisoner vote on December 17, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Chester v Secretary of State for Justice & Anor [2010] EWCA Civ 1439 (17 December 2010) – Read judgment The Court of Appeal has rejected a claim by a man convicted of raping and murdering a seven-year-old girl that the court should grant him the right to vote. Meanwhile, following the judgment the government has [...]
Europe sets deadline for UK to let prisoners vote, or else
Posted in Case summaries, European, In the news, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged prisoner vote on November 23, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Updated | Greens and M.T. v. the United Kingdom (application nos. 60041/08 & 60054/08) – Read judgment / press release (which the case summary below is based on) The European Court of Human Rights is to give the UK a deadline of six months in order to allow prisoners to vote in elections, or it [...]
Council of Europe warns UK again over prisoner voting rights
Posted in In the news, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections on November 19, 2010 | 2 Comments »
The Council of Europe, which monitors compliance with European Court of Human Rights judgments, has warned the United Kingdom to stop dragging its feet over the implementation of judgments on politically sensitive issues. In a draft resolution, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, which was unanimously adopted on 17 November 2010, said: The [...]
Analysis: Phil Woolas loses his seat and has judicial review refused
Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Case comments, Case law, Criminal, Defamation / Libel, Freedom of Information, In the news, Politics / Public Order, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, Terrorism, tagged Phil Woolas on November 10, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Robert Elwyn Watkins v Philip James Woolas [2010] EWHC 2702 (QB) 5 November 2010- read judgment Update – read our 3 December 2010 post on his defeat in the administrative court The Election Court has ruled that the Labour MP for Oldham knowingly and deliberately misled the constituency and as a result his election is [...]





Did the UK misuse European court process on prisoner votes? – Dr Ed Bates
Posted in Case comments, European, In the news, Prisons, Protocol 1 Art. 3 | Free elections, tagged prisoner votes on April 15, 2011 | 5 Comments »
The recent rejection, by a panel of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, of the British government’s attempt to overturn the ruling in Greens and MT v United Kingdom (prisoner voting) case, brings into focus the role of the Strasbourg Grand Chamber. In this post I attempt to highlight how the [...]
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