prisoners sentenced to less than a specified term, which would be “low..., such as one year in prison”. The other was to allow sentencers a discretion on whether the franchise should be withdrawn in the particular case. A further consultation paper was published in April 2009 summarising responses to the first paper and seeking views on the approach to be adopted. The Government indicated its own preference for an automatic restriction of the franchise based on the seriousness of the offence, as reflected in the length of the sentence. On 20 December 2010, after the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Greens and MT, the Government announced that it would propose to Parliament that offenders sentenced to a term of imprisonment of less than four years would have the right to vote in parliamentary and European Parliament elections, unless the sentencing judge directed otherwise. Subsequently, the question of prisoners’ voting rights was debated twice. There was a Westminster Hall adjournment debate on 10 January 2011, at which many members of the House of Commons expressed strong opposition to enfranchising any prisoners. A month later, on 11 February 2011, there was an all-day debate on the floor of the House of Commons on a motion put forward jointly by senior backbench MPs from both sides of the House, that “legislative decisions of this nature should be a matter for democratically elected lawmakers; and supports the current situation in which no sentenced prisoner is able to vote except those imprisoned for contempt, default or on remand.” This motion was carried by 234 votes to 22, both front benches abstaining. 118. On 22 November 2012 the Government published the Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Draft Bill (Cm 8499), setting out three options, (a) a ban on voting by prisoners sentenced to four years imprisonment or more, (b) a ban for prisoners sentenced to more than six months imprisonment, or (c) a general ban, i.e. a restatement of the present position. The explanatory memorandum accompanying the draft Bill pointed out that option (c) could not be regarded as compatible with the Convention. The draft Bill is currently being considered by a joint Select Committee of both Houses. For the moment, however, the only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from this history is that there is no democratic mandate for the enfranchisement of convicted prisoners. 119. It is an international obligation of the United Kingdom under article 46.1 of the Convention to abide by the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in any case to which it is a party. This obligation is in terms absolute. The remainder of article 46 contains provisions for its collective enforcement by the institutions of the Council of Europe. Many states have written constitutions which give automatic effect in domestic law to treaties to which they are party. Constitutional provisions of this kind are generally accompanied by provisions Page 54