Scotland will be “increasingly isolated” if it presses ahead with a blanket ban on prisoners voting in next year’s independence referendum, campaigners have claimed.
MSPs at Holyrood will vote today on whether short-term prisoners should be allowed to take part in the historic ballot.
Ahead of that, the Howard League for Penal Reform in Scotland is urging them to give the vote to inmates on shorter sentences.
Chairman John Scott QC argued that imposing a blanket ban sent prisoners “the message that they are not part of Scottish society”.
Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes has put forward two amendments to the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Bill, which could enable either those serving a sentence of up to six months or those sentenced to up to four years to vote in the referendum.
