Category: elections

Miranda, Prisoner Votes & Judicial Review Myths – The Human Rights Roundup – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted November 13th, 2013 in airports, benefits, bills, detention, disabled persons, elections, freedom of expression, human rights, judicial review, media, news, prisons, select committees, terrorism by tracey

“This week, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill took evidence , and there were notable comments from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the body which monitors compliance with the European Court of Human Rights. Meanwhile, Baroness Hale weighed in on the proposed judicial review changes and, continuing along the judicial review vein, David Miranda (pictured) began his claim on Wednesday.”

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UK Human Rights Blog, 11th November 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

West Midlands PCC Bob Jones criticises role – BBC News

Posted November 11th, 2013 in elections, news, police, statistics by michael

“West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Bob Jones has criticised the posts, saying they have done nothing for police accountability.”

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BBC News, 10th November 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Dominic Grieve: Every prisoner in Britain could sue for damages over voting ban – Daily Telegraph

Posted November 7th, 2013 in bills, damages, elections, human rights, news, prisons, treaties by tracey

“Tens of thousands of prisoners could be in line for compensation because they have been denied their ‘human right’ to vote, the Attorney General has warned. Dominic Grieve warned that all 85,000 prisoners in England and Wales could lodge claims with the European Court of Human Rights if they are barred from vote at the next election, costing taxpayers more than £60 million.”

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Daily Telegraph, 6th November 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Threats to modern democracy – why the UK should take note – Halsbury’s Law Exchange

Posted October 29th, 2013 in constitutional law, elections, human rights, news, political parties by sally

“Recent events in the US have made us all aware of the essential vulnerability of modern political and economic systems. For a while it seemed as though the most powerful economy in the world was heading towards self-destruction, owing to the failure of a small number of senior politicians to reach a consensus that would avoid such an outcome. Now that disaster has been at least temporarily averted, it seems appropriate to try to analyse how this situation arose.”

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Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 28th October 2013

Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk

Regina (Chester) v Secretary of State for Justice and another; McGeoch v Lord President of the Council and another – WLR Daily

Posted October 22nd, 2013 in appeals, declarations of incompatibility, elections, human rights, law reports, prisons, Supreme Court by tracey

Regina (Chester) v Secretary of State for Justice and another; McGeoch v Lord President of the Council and another: [2013] UKSC 63;   [2013] WLR (D)  392

“The statutory blanket ban on convicted prisoners voting was incompatible with article 3 of the First Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. However, where a declaration of incompatibility had already been made in other proceedings and the matter was under active consideration by Parliament, a further declaration of incompatibility, being a discretionary remedy, was not appropriate.”

WLR Daily, 16th October 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

The latest prisoner votes judgment may be our Marbury v Madison – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted October 21st, 2013 in elections, human rights, judicial review, judiciary, news, prisons, Supreme Court by sally

“At first glance, prisoner voting proponents may interpret the Supreme Court’s R (Chester) v Justice Secretary decision (see Adam Wagner’s previous post) as a defeat for advancing prisoner voting rights in the UK. This blog post offers a different perspective. By comparing Chester to the seminal US Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison, we summarise that such proponents should take a step back and see the wood, rather than merely the trees. This is because Lord Mance’s Chester judgment offers human rights advocates, and therefore supporters of prisoner voting rights, an unequivocal foundation from which to defend future human rights claims.”

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UK Human Rights Blog, 20th October 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Ruvi Ziegler: The missing right to vote: The UK Supreme Court’s judgment in Chester and McGeoch – UK Constitutional Law Group

Posted October 21st, 2013 in bills, EC law, elections, human rights, news, prisons, Supreme Court by sally

“On 16 October 2013, a seven-judge panel of the UK Supreme Court (UKSC) unanimously rejected two challenges (R (Chester) v Secretary of State for Justice and McGeoch v The Lord President of the Council & Anor and the judgment summary) brought by prisoners serving terms of life imprisonment against their disenfranchisement in UK national elections pursuant to section 3(1) of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (RPA) and in EU Parliamentary elections and UK local elections pursuant to section 8(2) of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002.”

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UK Constitutional Law Group, 21st October 2013

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org

UK Supreme Court judgment: R (Chester) v Justice Secretary, McGeoch v Lord President – Head of Legal

Posted October 18th, 2013 in elections, human rights, news, prisons, Supreme Court by tracey

“It’s no surprise that the Supreme Court has today unanimously dismissed appeals by two prisoners who wanted various remedies under the Human Rights Act and EU law for being denied the vote in Parliamentary, local, Scottish Parliament and European elections. These cases were always weak.”

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Head of Legal, 16th October 2013

Source: www.headoflegal.com

R (on the application of Chester) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Justice (Respondent); McGeoch (AP) (Appellant) v The Lord President of the Council and another (Respondents) (Scotland) – Supreme Court

Posted October 17th, 2013 in appeals, elections, human rights, law reports, prisons, Supreme Court by sally

R (on the application of Chester) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Justice (Respondent); McGeoch (AP) (Appellant) v The Lord President of the Council and another (Respondents) (Scotland) [2013] UKSC 63 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 16th October 2013

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

This Supreme Court prisoner voting decision really is a victory for common sense – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted October 17th, 2013 in appeals, elections, human rights, news, prisons, Supreme Court by sally

“The Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling recently told The Spectator that he wants ‘to see our Supreme Court being supreme again’. In light of his respect for the court, he should read today’s judgment on prisoner votes very carefully indeed, as should David Cameron who has already endorsed the decision as a ‘great victory for common sense’.”

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UK Human Rights Blog, 16th October 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Prisoners’ right-to-vote appeal rejected by supreme court – The Guardian

Posted October 17th, 2013 in appeals, elections, human rights, news, prisons, Supreme Court by sally

“Two convicted murderers who argued that European Union law gave them the right to vote in UK elections have had their appeals dismissed by the supreme court at Westminster.”

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The Guardian, 16th October 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Prisoner votes Supreme Court decision expected – BBC News

Posted October 16th, 2013 in appeals, bills, EC law, elections, human rights, news, prisons, proportionality, Supreme Court by sally

“The Supreme Court will rule later whether prisoners have the right to vote under European Union rules – even though they cannot under British law.”

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BBC News, 16th October 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Alison L. Young: Prisoner Voting: Human or Constitutional Right? – UK Constitutional Law Group

Posted September 30th, 2013 in bills, elections, human rights, interpretation, jurisdiction, news, prisons, select committees by sally

“As is well known, in Hirst v UK (No 2) the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights concluded that Section 3(1) of the Representation of the People Act 1983, which removed the franchise from prisoners, was a disproportionate restriction of the right to vote found in article 3 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. After two consultation papers, further judgments from the European Court of Human Rights, a declaration of incompatibility from the Scottish courts, a series of criticisms from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the Joint Committee of Human Rights, a change of Government and a House of Commons debate, the Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Draft Bill was proposed and is currently being scrutinised by a Joint Select Committee. To add to the mix, we are awaiting judgment on the latest discussion of the issue by the UK Supreme Court, in R (Chester) v Secretary of State for Justice and McGeogh v Lord President of the Council, heard on 10 June, not to mention the adjourned case of Firth v United Kingdom.”

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UK Constitutional Law Group, 27th September 2013

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org

Government to amend lobbying regulation plans – BBC News

Posted September 27th, 2013 in bills, charities, elections, freedom of expression, lobbying, news by tracey

“The government has proposed a series of amendments to its lobbying bill, after charities and voluntary groups raised concerns they could be gagged.”

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BBC News, 26th September 2013

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Nigel Kennedy escapes prosecution over fraud claims – Daily Telegraph

Posted September 6th, 2013 in elections, fraud, news, prosecutions, time limits by tracey

“A Conservative MP has called for voting crimes to be punished retrospectively after it emerged that Nigel Kennedy, the violinist, will not face prosecution for alleged electoral fraud.”

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Daily Telegraph, 6th September 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Jacob Rowbottom: Third Party Spending Controls and the Lobbying Bill – UK Constitutional Law Group

Posted September 5th, 2013 in bills, elections, lobbying, news, third parties by sally

“The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill is proving to be controversial for various reasons – not least for proposing amendments to controls on third party spending during election campaigns (under the current law independent organisations have to register with the Electoral Commission if they spend over a certain amount on election material, and such spending is subject to an overall cap). Many of the criticisms have focused on the potential for the proposed law to apply to the political speech of charities, think tanks, blogs and campaign groups.”

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UK Constitutional Law Group, 4th September 2013

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org

One million Commonwealth citizens ‘should lose the right to vote in UK’ – The Independent

Posted August 29th, 2013 in citizenship, constitutional history, elections, news, reports by sally

“Around one million Commonwealth citizens will be allowed to vote in the next general election despite not having qualified for British citizenship, in a practice that “should be brought to an end immediately”, a report has argued.”

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The Independent, 28th August 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Getting local authorities mythbusting – Cloisters

Posted July 19th, 2013 in bills, codes of practice, elections, local government, news, political parties by sally

“Local authorities have a duty not to spend public money on propaganda for a political party. Section 4 of the Local Government Act 1986 provides for a Code of recommended practice as regards publicity. Councils which fail to follow its requirements may find themselves in breach of s 2 of the LGA 1986 and subject to judicial review. Hence councils act with caution in this area. Declan O’Dempsey writes about recent work on the Local Audit and Accountability Bill, which should encourage local authorities to rebut factually inaccurate stories put out by political parties, perhaps event during the election “purdah” period.”

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Cloisters, July 2013

Source: www.cloisters.com

Prisoners could be awarded thousands in compensation over right to vote – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 27th, 2013 in bills, compensation, elections, human rights, news, prisons by sally

“Prisoners could be in line for thousands of pounds each in backdated compensation over the government’s refusal to give them the right to vote, MPs and peers have been warned.”

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Daily Telegraph, 26th June 2013

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

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Supreme court urged to reject challenge to prisoner voting ban – The Guardian

Posted June 12th, 2013 in bills, elections, human rights, news, prisons, Supreme Court by sally

“The attorney general, Dominic Grieve, has urged the supreme court to dismiss legal challenges by two convicted murderers who are seeking the right for prisoners to vote.”

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The Guardian, 11th June 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk