(MENAFN - The Conversation) If elections in the UK go ahead in May some incarcerated British citizens will have the right to vote for the first time. Scotland has passed legislation enfranchising prisoners with sentences of less than 12 months. Wales looks set to follow suit, with plans to allow prisoners serving less than four years to vote. These moves are a break from what has until now been a blanket ban on prisoner voting in the UK – a policy which has been criticised as contrary to human rights and proved a touchstone issue in the early years of the Brexit debate.