Stay firm on prisoner votes, Boris Johnson tells David Cameron

The Mayor waded into the row over prisoner votes today, telling David Cameron to "stick to his guns" in a showdown with European judges.

Boris Johnson insisted Parliament, not the European Court of Human Rights, should decide whether inmates take part in elections.

"We've come to a real crunch point here. There's absolutely no way we can allow Parliament to be overruled in this matter," he told LBC radio. "This is a political question, it is not a matter for Strasbourg, it is a matter for the sovereign Parliament of this country.

"There is a real issue now and I hope very much that the Prime Minister sticks to his guns, forces a showdown and obtains a new constitutional settlement that allows us ... to assert our prerogative in matters like this."

MPs voted overwhelmingly yesterday to keep the ban on prisoner votes. Mr Johnson's intervention piles more pressure on Mr Cameron to take a defiant stance against the European court. The Premier has said the idea of letting inmates vote makes him feel "sick".

But Thomas Hammarberg, European Commissioner for Human Rights, has insisted the UK should enfranchise inmates. Ministers are reluctant to defy the European court as it could result in big compensation payments to prisoners who are refused the vote.

Downing Street is seeking to reach an agreement that enfranchises the "minimum" number of prisoners. "I'm sure that the Prime Minister would like that to be zero," a No 10 source added.

Options being examined include limiting the vote to those on a short sentence, possibly a year, or leaving it to judges to decide on individual cases.

MPs voted by 234 to 22 in favour of the motion to keep the ban tabled by Tory David Davis and Labour's Jack Straw. London MPs who supported it included Bob Blackman, Angie Bray, Nick de Bois, David Evennett, Mark Field, Mike Freer, Zac Goldsmith, Stephen Hammond, Greg Hands, Richard Ottaway, Andrew Rosindell, Lee Scott, Stella Creasy, Jim Fitzpatrick, Mike Gapes, Margaret Hodge, Kate Hoey, Stephen Pound and Malcolm Wicks.

Opponents included Simon Hughes, Tom Brake, Barry Gardiner, Glenda Jackson, Andy Love and John McDonnell. The vote does not tie ministers' hands and may give them more authority when seeking a deal with the court.