Jeremy Corbyn will consider campaigning to give prisoners the right to vote if he becomes Labour leader. The Labour leadership candidate said he would follow demands by the European Court of Human Rights to allow convicted criminals the right to vote in British elections. The court has ruled four times that Britain should lift its ban on prisoner votes but Parliament has refused to give way over the issue. The 66-year-old left-wing politician supports the principle of overturning the historic ban on jailed convicts voting because he thinks it will help rehabilitate them. MPs voted in 2011 to keep the ban on prisoner voting, despite the tough stance adopted by the European judges since 2005.
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: “On the issue of prisoner voting, we are guided by the European Court of Human Rights.”
His comments come as he also unveiled plans to consider introducing women-only train carriages in a bid to cut the number of sexual assaults on public transport. Like that proposal, Mr Corbyn’s comments about prisoner votes are likely to come under fierce criticism.
Full Article: Jeremy Corbyn: Let prisoners have the right to vote – Telegraph.