UK judge: Prisoners can't claim cash for voting ban

A High Court judge fuelled the row between Britain and Europe today by rejecting prisoners' demands for compensation for not having the vote.

A total of 588 inmates have made claims against Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, with a possible 1,000 more in the pipeline. But Mr Justice Langstaff said the law - including the UK's Human Rights Act - made it clear they had no right to the ballot.

Last week, MPs voted by 234 to 22 to defy the European Court of Human Rights and keep a blanket ban on enfranchising prisoners.

The court has ruled that taking the vote from inmates breaches their rights. Yesterday its president, Jean-Paul Costa, compared Britain's approach to Greece's Sixties dictatorship. He said only the Greek junta of colonels had previously dared to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights. Today, however, Mr Justice Langstaff said judges in this country could only rule on laws passed by Parliament, including the Human Rights Act - which incorporates the European Convention in British law.

Applying those laws, he ruled that "a prisoner will not succeed before a court in England and Wales in any claim for damages or a declaration based on his disenfranchisement while serving his sentence."

Referring to the Commons debate, he added: "Though the subject matter of each is the same - the enfranchisement of prisoners - the role of the courts and of the legislature are distinct."

The prisoners claimed compensation for having been barred from voting at last year's general election. They argued that the ban, under the Representation of the People Act 1983, was incompatible with Article 3 of the European Convention. David Cameron welcomed the High Court ruling, but European human rights chiefs ratcheted up pressure on Britain to relax its ban.

Thomas Hammarberg, EU Commissioner for Human Rights, told the Standard: "This may not be a popular position but everyone's right to vote is absolutely fundamental to democracy."

But he said the Government could reach a compromise with the court in Strasbourg, with some limits on which prisoners can go to the polls.

The Prime Minister is under increasing pressure to take a hardline stance after it emerged that a government paper stressed the European Court of Human Rights was unable to order Britain to compensate prisoners. The document prepared for Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leaked to The Times, shows it can only apply "political rather than judicial" pressure.