A Brighton MP has spoken out about the prospect of prisoners being given the right to vote.
Simon Kirby, the Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown, said that he was angry and frustrated that the ban on prisoners voting was being lifted at all.
Mr Kirby said: “As far as I am concerned, those who fail to live by the law of the land and are incarcerated should lose the right to vote.
“While I appreciate some change is unavoidable, rest assured, I will lobby ministers extremely hard to limit as much as is legally possible the extent to which the restriction on prisoners voting is lifted.”
Prisoners have a lot of rights and I really can’t get very worked up about the right to vote. MPs objecting on the basis that prisoners have not lived by the law of the land is a bit rich considering the way they behave. The biggest problem surely is which constituency they will vote in. It cannot be right that they vote in the prison consituency since this could introduce a significant bias. Also the cost and complexity of introducing the system must be considered especially when some are only in prison for short times.