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MPs call for short-sentence prisoners to be given vote

Prisoners serving short sentences or approaching the end of their time behind bars should be given the vote, an influential cross-party parliamentary committee has recommended.

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Not giving prisoners vote 'undermines UK'

A refusal to act on a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Britain's current ban on prisoner voting is unlawful would "undermine the standing of the UK," said a cross-parliamentary committee.

This committee considers it would be wholly disproportionate for Parliament to take the grave step of undermining the international rule of law, which the United Kingdom has worked for so many decades to defend and promote, for the sake of a small modification of domestic law.

– Parliamentary committee report

The committee wants prisoners who are nearing the end of their sentences to be able to vote and said the Government had failed to set out a "plausible" case for maintaining the existing blanket ban.

Read: Let short-term prisoners vote, MPs say

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MPs call for short-sentence prisoners to be given vote

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