As James says, the prisoner votes row will return to parliament before lunch today. The government is expected to offer the Commons three choices:
- The retention of the blanket ban, in defiance of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)
- Enfranchising prisoners serving up to six months.
- Enfranchising those serving up to four years.
Parliament is expected to vote for retention, as it has done so previously. Such an outcome would, obviously, set the UK government on a collision course with the ECtHR and leave it open to very costly compensation suits. Damages of around £1,000 per case have been awarded in other jurisdictions, and leaked documents published last year showed that the government’s lawyers estimate the cost of compensation suits could exceed £140 million. That’s a high price to pay for asserting parliamentary sovereignty, but perhaps a worthwhile one if you believe that parliament is morally right on this issue.
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