Inmates to take over asylum

Prisoners in Britain are, quite rightly, not allowed to vote - but the Guardian reports that that is about to change thanks to the EU.

The government must give prisoners the right to vote or the next general election will be illegal under European law, ministers have been warned by parliament's influential Joint Committee on Human Rights.

Anyone still believe that we make our own laws in this country?

The committee's conclusion threatens a constitutional crisis for Labour, which has tried to bury the issue ever since the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2005 that inmates should have the vote.

Actually, it doesn't threaten Labour one little bit unless they win the next election - which is by no means a given. If they lose they can then just claim that the election was illegal. Besides, surely the Joint Committee on Human Rights will advise the government on the correct response to the EU?

The committee, comprising six MPs and six peers, has written to the Ministry of Justice saying the government must urgently change the law so that the majority of Britain's 84,000 prisoners are given the right before the country next goes to the polls.

Er, no - that wasn't it. The correct response should actually be "the committee .... has written to the Home Office saying that the government must urgently change the law by getting rid of the Human Rights Act and tell the EU to get lost before the country goes to the dogs completely."

Honestly, why do we put up with it?