Nadine Dorries MP: Don’t give the vote to muggers and sex offenders

This is the same court, whose officials instructed our Parliament to give the vote to sex offenders, muggers and all those serving a prison sentence.

The argument here goes that a vote is a basic human right and the removal of the right to vote, is a loss of dignity.

My position is that if you have broken the law, then you have lost the right to cast a vote that is part of the process to decide who makes the laws you choose to break.

Law breakers lose many dignities when serving a prison sentence. I’m afraid the lesson is if you want to vote, don’t break the law.

Parliament has so far resisted the threats of the ECHR to fine us and other serious admonishments.

Strasbourg has no power to enforce its fine or to throw us out of the European Union. However, our resistance to the instruction to give prisoners the vote has far reaching consequences.

When Strasbourg tells a country they can’t kill the Chechnyans, we would all like to know that the country would obey.

For Parliament to flout the ECHR directive diminishes the authority we would like the ECHR to have when dealing with serious issues of Human Rights abuse.

It is for this reason alone that Parliament will once again debate the issue of prisoners votes and will vote for a much watered down compromise, which will eventually see some, a few, possibly those serving their last few months able to vote. The only way to have avoided this scenario would be to pull out of the ECHR.

A dramatic move? Some may think so, however, the mood of the nation is edging that way.

As I write this, the ECHR judges are deciding the outcome of a final appeal against a directive to prohibit any state faith schools from displaying a crucifix. It is widely assumed that appeal will be lost and any Catholic or Christian school in the UK will be breaking the law should they not obey.

The backlash here will be huge. In Italy and other Catholic member states it will be even more significant.

And the consequence is that no one really sees the good work the ECHR may achieve but instead, takes against rulings which are seen to interfere with common sense.

I would love to see us withdraw from the ECHR and introduce our own bill of rights, something I hope may happen one day under a Conservative government.