Votes For Prisoners - Remove The No-Go Sign

The following is from a BBC Report, see here.

"Ministers will give Parliament another vote on whether to give prisoners the vote this week, the BBC understands. Political correspondent Carole Walker said she understood MPs would consider options, on Thursday, including votes for those serving six months or less and those serving four years or less. A third option on the draft bill would be no votes at all, she added."

I wonder if any MP will do the honourable thing and put down an amendment to the Government's list of options, in order to allow all prisoners to have the vote. If there are worries about prison loads of voters distorting the outcome in specific constituencies, they could be given votes via their last known places of residence prior to their imprisonment.

The main reason that prisoners should be able to have the vote is that they are human beings. But even if they are thought to be not very nice human beings, that is no reason for disenfranchising them. For quite correctly we don't otherwise try to separate the wheat from the chaff when we decide who is entitled to the vote - not since we  came (basically) to adopt the correct overriding principle of adult male suffrage. Separating the wheat from the chaff is an elitist response, contrary to democratic values.

There is also the fact that masses of people who commit serious crimes, never get caught. There is no mechanism we can adopt to remove the franchise rights of those who have murdered, raped and pillaged, but have got away with their crimes.

Everyone resident in the UK over a certain age (which I feel should be 16) should have the vote as they are subject to the laws which parliament determines. This is obviously the case with prisoners, as the law has caught up with them. The only exception to the right to vote should be for those who can't vote, due their having the most serious of learning difficulties. And even then we should err on the side of caution.

I just hope there are some MPs who see things in the above light. After all they are supposed to be at the cutting edge of democracy.

I have never heard a principled argument against what I say above. There are only appeals to our prejudices, as shown by the interviewer in the video attached to the link in my opening sentence.

We Should Not Pick And Choose As To Who Is Entitled To The Vote

Radical Jack

So much for the democratic and civil liberties credential of Jack Straw and David Davis in their efforts to withhold voting rights for prisoners. I am not against them obtaining a debate on the issue in the Commons, but I hope that enough MPs will be present to challenge the line they are taking.

Everyone who is capable of exercising a choice, is resident within the United Kingdom and has reached an agreed age (which I would put at 16) should have the vote in our parliamentary elections. They should all then be subject to laws determined under parliamentary procedures - even though acts of peaceful civil disobedience can be a justifiable avenue of protest against unjust measures where the protesters are willing to face the legal consequences of their actions.

Now and again we come across prisoners who are released because they are innocent. Then we are aware that masses of people who have committed crimes have never been captured. If we adopt the principle of kicking people off registers because we think they are nasty, heaven knows who will left with the vote.

We need to get people onto electoral registers and not kick them off. At least three and million who are entitled to the vote are currently missing from registers. Young people, ethnic minorities, the poor, the homeless and the rootless form the bulk of these. We need a pro-active system to ensure their rights are given to them.

Then there there are people who are firmly resident in this country other than Commonwealth and Irish Citizens who are find themselves disenfranchised, yet they are firmly subject to the law of the land and are not tax exiles.

What we are entitled to is a Full Franchise - we should not pick and choose as to who is entitled to the vote. It is for the people to choose who should represent them.

Her Politics Are Even Worse

Ann Widdecombe's politics are even worse than her dancing. Far worse. And that is saying something. Congratulations to Martyn Norris for providing the details via Pickled Politics.

Hat Tip : Bob Piper.

More Shameful News From Iraq

Widows and children beneath a photograph of their husbands inside a trailer at Al Waffa. Among Iraqi women aged 15 to 80, 1 in 11 are estimated to be widows. Only about 120,000 widows receive any government aid. Photo by Johan Spanner. Source and above comments from the New York Times. See here.


Read this important report and see the attached video about the current plight of the huge number of widows in Iraq. A failure to assist bulks of these and a massive cut in the overall budget serving their interests has led to the resignation of Nawal al-Samari the Iraqi Minister of Women's Affairs.

Hat tip : Nadia

The State Of The Franchise : A Democratic Disgrace

Chartists For Male Suffrage, 1848: Suffraggettes For Female Suffrage, Released From Prison 1909


Here is a potted history of the growth of the right to vote in this country since 1832. It is generally assumed that the journey towards a full franchise has been completed, apart perhaps for those who argue for votes for 16 and 17 year olds. Unfortunately, too few notice the huge gaps which still need to be filled. They include -

1. Some 2 million people who are entitled to be registered to vote, but whose names are missing. The numbers missing are heavily concentrated amongst the poor, racial minorities, those living in bed-sitter land and those who are otherwise rootless and move about from one address to another, including those suffering from homelessness. As the missing millions are not spread equally throughout society, this has the knock-on consequence of seriously distorting our electoral boundaries.

2. Residents in this country from overseas, other than those who already qualify to vote because they come from the Republic of Ireland or from Commonwealth nations. (The other side of this coin is that British citizens overseas should be registered to vote in the country whose laws they are then subject to and not in this country.)

3. Those who are imprisoned. Yet this is a group of fellow human beings who could not be more clearly subject to the laws of the land. The paradox is that the large numbers of people who are never caught or convicted for their crimes, retain their franchise rights. If prisoners were registed to vote in the Constituencies in which they were imprisoned then it would give strong reasons for their local MP and candidates to pay attention to their interests. That is what accountability is supposed to be about. (This issue is regularly pursued on Jailhouse Lawyer's Blog.)

4. The case for votes for 16 and 17 year olds is that the teenagers concerned could initially be registered to vote via their schools as 15 year old "attainers". Not only would their names not be missed from registers, but schools could be obliged to run classes on the development of the franchise, its importance and its usage.

5. To overcome the problem raised in (1) above about under-registration, it would be possible for registration officers to be given the means to trace the movements of people once they are on registers (as in 4 above) to ensure that their voting rights were automatically transferred. There is a case here for the democratic usage of a compulsory ID card system.

In addition polling cards could be issued as soon as formal electoral procedures start, with widespead publicity given to their issue. This needs to be done so that those who don't receive cards can become aware they may not be registered. They can then be given the opportunity to register as long as they were present in the area concerned when the relevant electoral proceedure commenced.

6. Many of our legislative powers have been passed over to the European Union (EU), yet it does not operate under a proper parliamentary system. The EU has a huge democratic deficit which can only be overcome by its transformation in a fully democratic, social and federal structure.

Unfortuneately, we have halted the process of the advance of the franchise. Its current shortcomings are nothing less than a democratic disgrace.

Whose Side Are You On In Iraq?

Whose side are you on in Iraq? Try Madeeha Hasan Odhaib (opposite). The following is from Time Magazine on the 100 most influential people in the world.

Madeeha Hasan Odhaib
By Queen Rania

"It's not every day that success stories echo out of Iraq into the halls of power, but Madeeha Hasan Odhaib defies the norm. Armed with her sewing machine, unflinching stoicism and determination, Madeeha, 37, is mending the fabric of Iraq.

Four years ago, this mother of two and seamstress turned district council member took three sewing machines, leveraged them into 60 and built a business sewing hospital sheets and flags. She now employs 100 women. That figure may seem insignificant compared with the accomplishments of other achievers on TIME's list. But in a country with more than 60% unemployment and rampant poverty, such efforts provide a lifeline. Each woman Madeeha employs returns home with an invaluable sense of self-respect, money in her purse, food for her children and optimism for a daughter desperately seeking a role model amid mayhem. Madeeha also treads—or, rather, threads—the line between activism and heroism. She has coordinated with the Red Crescent, Red Cross, Hands of Mercy and Iraqi army to distribute food around Baghdad. And despite threats, she says she'll never give up.

Iraq is suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises we have ever seen. While Madeeha rightly makes Time's list, women like her are found throughout Iraq, sewing hope one stitch at a time. Through Madeeha, we celebrate all of Iraq's courageous women, whose resilience and resourcefulness hold the promise of a new dawn."

Queen Rania of Jordan is a champion of women's rights in the Middle East

Hat Tip - Treasure of Baghdad

The Female Chartists Of Iran

Iranian Women Rights Activist Ahmadi Khorassani
Chartist meeting on Kennington Common. 10th April 1848. The world's first photograph of a crowd.





The Chartist Movement in Britain organised three massive petitions in favour of adult male suffrage and other democratic reforms in 1838, 1842 and 1848. Numbers of women also campaigned for the objectives of these petitions as they saw them as advancing the say of working class families. Although Chartism had no immediate success, by 1858 one of its demands reached the statute books with the end of the property qualification for candidates. Other successes were to follow.

The struggle for votes for women became a significant force especially under the campaigning of the suffragettes. The Women's Social and Political Union being founded in 1904. By 1928 the bulk of the demands of the Chartists and the campaign for an equal franchise for women had triumphed.

In Iran today women have the vote, but the electoral system is manipulated to block out numerous reformist candidates who would provide an avenue for pressures for women's rights.

As an article in the current issue of Amnesty International points out -

"Women do not have equal rights with men in marriage, divorce, child custody or inheritance. They cannot be judges. Criminal harm suffered by a woman is less severely punished than the same harm done to a man. Evidence given in court is worth half that given by men....in the eyes of the law they are second class citizens."

A female Chartist-style campaign called the Campaign For Equality is under way in Iran (with male supporters) seeking a million signatures to demand an end to discriminatory laws.

International support is being sort for this campaign here. See also the Amnesty International web-site here.

There is no reason why this campaign should not come to have the significance in Iranian politics which the Chartists and the Suffragettes had in advancing democracy, justice, civil rights and social reform in Britain.

The Women Of Basra

Today "Treasure of Baghdad" has posted an important item about terrorist oppression (including murders) of women in Basra who fail to follow Taliban-style codes of behaviour.

The item contains a link to an Al Jazerra news item of 16 November on the issue. This includes an interview with Houzan Mahmoud of the Organisation of Women's Freedom In Iraq. She gave evidence to "The Iraq Commission" on 12 June. A transcript can be found here.

Women in Local Government 1907 and 2007

On 6 February I posted an item entitled "Votes For Women : 1918, 1870 or Earlier?" based upon the book "Ladies Elect : Women in English Local Government 1865-1914" by Patricia Hollis (Claredon Press, Oxford 1987).

Although I had been obliged to borrow the book via the Public Library loan system, I have now been informed that there is to be a limited reprint centred around the relaunch in Sheffield on 10 March of an organisation entitled the "Women's Local Government Society" (WLGS).

The WLGS

The original WLGS emerged in the late 1880's and existed in various forms until around the time of the First World War. It became a strong campaigning force, lobbying MPs, but also giving practical support to women to enable them to seek election to local government.


1907 Qualification of Women Act

This year marks the centenary of a major success by the WLGS in helping to achieve one of their major objectives via the above Act of Parliament. This Act clarified that women ratepayers were able to be elected to Borough and County Councils. This followed years of uncertainty and confusion, which included challenges in the courts when women first tried to stand for the London County Council, plus women losing their influence on education boards when the free-standing boards I described in my earlier blog were absorbed into newly established councils. Women also lost places when towns grew and obtained Borough status.

As I described previously, women had been elected to separate boards dealing with the Poor Law and the 1870 Education Act and were entitled to serve on the new urban and district councils from 1894. The 1907 Act gave them the right to stand anywhere in Local Government.

2007 WLGS Re-launch

The revived WLGS is setting out with a discussion day, an AGM and a campaign launch at the Sheffield Town Hall on 10 March from 10.45 am to 3.15 pm (registration and coffee from 10 am). It aims to faciliate the role of women in local government and community activities. It will also celebrate the land mark success of the earlier WLGS a century ago.

Further Details

Further details can be obtained from Anne Baldwin at wlgs2007@googlemail.com . Whilst membership is open for women and organisations they belong to, men can join as non-voting associates. So I had better put my money where my blogging has led me.

Votes For Women : 1918, 1870 or Earlier ?

The claim that women first obtained the vote in 1918 is only a half truth. It is true about Parliamentary Elections, but false about Local Government Elections.

Please note that the statistics and cases I refer to below relate to England only - although the principles discussed have relevance to Scotland, Wales (and for the times covered) the whole of Ireland.

Parliamentary Votes

Women first qualified for franchise rights for parliamentary elections under the 1918 Representation of the People's Act. This entitled them to vote if they had six month's occupation of land or premises in an area or were married to a man who so qualified.

Women were required to be 30 years of age. Men under similar occupancy requirements only needed to be 21. The anomaly wasn't corrected until the 1928 Representation of the People's Act, when men and women qualified under the same requirements.

Board Of Guardian Votes

The 1918 and 1928 Acts also extended franchise rights for women and men in all forms of local government, including for Boards of Guardians.

The Boards of Guardians had first come into operation as a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. This provided for Parishes which then littered much of the country as the sole form of local government in many areas, to be united into groups for the operation of the outdoor relief system and for the harsh new system of workhouses.

There was a restricted property qualification for elections to the Boards, based on ownership and ratepaying. The assumption was that the Act applied to men only, for at the time property was overwhemingly in men's hands.

A more hopeful development for women's electoral rights emerged with the adoption of the 1870 Married Women's Property Act. In that year, Mrs M'Ilquham of Tewkesbury successfully claimed a qualification to vote in her Board of Guardian's election because she owned property separately from her husband in the form of a 75 acre farm. The door was now open for certain women of property to vote in such elections.

A Miss Merrington was the first woman to be elected to a Board in 1875, but she was disqualified in 1879 when she moved her house.

The number of women qualifying to vote for Boards expanded by 1914-15 and in England a total of 1,546 women then held seats as Poor Law Guardians.

School Board Votes

The breakthrough achieved with Mrs M'Ilquham in 1870 was quickly followed up in the London School Board elections in November that year.

The 1870 Elementary Education Act provided for the election of school boards for the running of schools outside of the voluntary system. County, District and Rural Councils had not by then been established. So as with Poor Law Boards, there was a need to draw Parish areas together to operate School Boards. This was even the case in London, where the first School Board elections were held.

Whilst women had obtained the right to vote (and to stand for office) in School Board elections, ratepayer and property qualifications still told against them. All the same an astonishing election took place in the Marylebone School Board Division, which covered the area of nine Parliamentary Constituencies.

22 people stood for 7 places. Elizabeth Garrett a local medical practitioner finished at the top of the poll with 47,858 votes. She obtained nearly three times the votes of the runner-up, T.E. Huxley (the scientist and humanist) who obtained 13,494 votes.

Emily Davies who was involved with the Women's College at Hitchen, also came top of the poll in the Greenwich Division. Whilst Maria Grey a founder of the Girls' Public Day School Trust was also elected for the Chelsea Division.

The reason these women did so well is that they had a high reputation for philanthropic work. They were popular amongst women voters who turned out in strength and amongst working class men, who appreciated the help they provided for their families. Elizabeth Garrett was pressed to stand by a deputation of Marylebone working men whose wives she had treat medically. She also had support in the London press. Although voters had as many votes as there were candidates, her committed supporters were organised into plumping only for Elizabeth Garrett.

By the 1914-15 period and in the run up to parliamentary advance of women's rights for the 1918 General Election, the number of women in England on school boards amounted to 680.

Local Government Votes

The 1835 Municipal Corporations Act introduced a male ratepayer franchise for those occupying a wide range of properties. This replaced a previously more restricted set of fancy and historical franchises, which had often included votes for the "freemen" of the municipality. A few of these beneficiaries had been women, who were then disfranchised by the 1835 legislation.

In 1869 an amendment to what became the Municipal Franchise Act gave women ratepayers in Boroughs the vote. Unfortunately, this was narrowed by a 1872 Court decision to cover unmarried women only.

Nevertheless, the 1870 Elementary Education Act with the breakthrough led by Elizabeth Garrett was followed by legislation in the late 1880s and throughout the 1890s which began to bring women's voting rights in line with men's under new Local Government structures effecting County, Rural and District Councils.

It was not, however, all a matter of slow but steady advance for women's rights. In 1889 for instance, Margaret Sandhurst had her election to the new London County Council overturned by the Courts. Yet Jane Cobden survived as her case wasn't taken to Court by the man whom she defeated. He supported votes for women.

Nevertheless, progress was being made. In England in 1914-15, 267 women were elected onto Councils, whilst they took over 2,700 places on School and Poor Law Boards.

Votes for women within a compex pattern of Local Authorities and Boards has a history which at times mingles with that of the struggle for the Parliamentary vote, yet also has a life of its own. See below for its key source.

Patricia Hollis

The infomation I have culled the above article from is all taken from "Ladies Elect : Women in English Local Government 1865-1914" by Patricia Hollis (Claredon Press, Oxford 1987.)

It is a serious work of scholarship and a delight to read. I first came across a reference to this book last November, when I attended a Conference run by the Society for the Study of Labour History. She was one of the speakers and the documentation for the Conference referred me to this book. I had to borrow it via the public library loan system. Unfortunately, I will have to return it in the morning.

I am sending a copy of this article to the author at the Lords. She is now Baroness Hollis and was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Works and Pensions from 1997 to 2005 . She is also author of "Jennie Lee: A Life" (Oxford University Press. 1997). Hopefully, she will correct any blunders I have made in interpreting her work on "Ladies Elect."

Next Task

In the area I live, the first woman ever to be elected to Parliament is the current M.P., Natascha Engel. She succeeded me at the 2005 General Election. What I don't know (but intend to research) is which local women were first elected onto the following categories, and when - (1) Poor Law Board, (2) School Board, (3) Parish Council, (4) County Council, (5) Rural District Council and (6) Urban District Council. That covers the area up to 1974 and I was then living here and know who was whom.

Others might like to undertake similar investigations in their locality.