Human rights court warns on prisoner votes

By James Boxell, Home Affairs Correspondent

Published: February 16 2011 23:00 | Last updated: February 16 2011 23:00

The president of the European Court of Human Rights has warned it would be a “disaster” for Britain if it failed to let prisoners vote or backed out of the human rights convention.

In a provocative intervention in the debate over Europe’s power over UK law, Jean-Paul Costa said: “The only country which denounced the convention was Greece in 1967 at the time of the dictatorship.”

Speaking to the BBC’s The Record Europe, he said he understood the anger in Britain over the issue, but added: “I cannot imagine . . . that the UK, which is a great country that I admire, could be in tshe same situation as the colonels in 1967.”

The comments came after David Cameron promised on Wednesday to establish a commission to “look at a British bill of rights” to head off protests from Tory backbenchers over allowing convicted sex offenders to appeal against having to register with police for life.

In comments that echoed his opposition to allowing prisoners the right to vote, the prime minister told MPs he was “appalled” at a recent decision by the Supreme Court, which found provisions in the Sexual Offences Act incompatible with the European convention on human rights.

He said a bill of rights would help “make sure decisions are made in this parliament rather than in the courts”.

The Tories had wanted to replace the Human Rights Act, which incorporates the European convention, with a UK bill of rights, but that was opposed by the Liberal Democrats.

The issue has flared up again after MPs voted overwhelmingly last week against the ECHR ruling on giving prisoners the vote.