British prisoners should be given the vote.

British prisoners should be given the vote. Instead, it has given the Government a six-month deadline to change the law.
Rarely has there been a more blatant challenge to parliamentary sovereignty. This judgment has been handed down just two months after MPs voted by 234 votes to 22 to reject the ruling. So an unelected, unaccountable panel of judges drawn from countries across Europe, some of which have only the flimsiest judicial traditions, is not only defying the clearly expressed views of the House of Commons, but is also seeking to impose new legislation.
If the law is not changed in the way prescribed in Strasbourg, the court will order compensation payments to be paid to the 4,000-odd prisoners who claim that their human rights have been infringed by being deprived of the vote – a restriction that has always existed in Britain. The bill to the taxpayer could run to £150 million, but that would be just the first instalment: thousands more prisoners would undoubtedly climb aboard the bandwagon.
This is intolerable. When the ECHR first delivered its verdict, David Cameron said that it made him feel "physically sick", so we assume he is ready for a fight. Certainly, there could be no better ground to fight on. For years, sensible people have watched with mounting anger as the court has handed out judgments that pander to the rights of the criminal and the feckless at the expense of the law-abiding majority. It is time a line was drawn in the sand.
We believe the Government should refuse to accept this judgment. If the ECHR then orders compensation to be paid, ministers should bring forward legislation outlawing such payments. Two of our own most senior judicial figures have cleared the way for such unilateral action.