DR GRAHAM Jones (Oxford Mail March 7) is mistaken when he states that I do not believe in the independence of courts.

Of course I do – when they interpret law made by a democratic body.

The fundamental problem with the European Court of Human Rights is that it does not interpret law made by a democratic body and thus it is not accountable. It is, in effect, a law unto itself. Conversely, supreme courts in America and Germany, for example, are ultimately accountable to elected bodies via their constitutions.

I note that Dr Jones has ignored the fundamental issue that the majority of people in the UK object to voting rights by prisoners, and forcing it on the UK basically deprives the rest of us of the right to change it via the ballot box.

The irony is, that Dr Jones has suggested that in order to prevent (in his words) “Stalin or Nazi tyranny” it is necessary to impose laws on UK citizens without any redress via the ballot box.

Ultimately, this issue should be decided by our elected Parliament; if Parliament decides in line with the electorate’s wishes that prisoners should not have that right, then this decision should be respected. I’m sad that Dr Jones feels that democracy is an inconvenience in this case.

Let’s be clear, prisoners chose to remove their own right to vote, by breaking the law. If prisoners want the right to vote – don’t break the law.

Paul Williams, Oxfordshire UKIP