PRISONERS will not be allowed to vote in the independence referendum, the Scottish Government said, after UK ministers outlined a series of options for future elections.
UK Justice Secretary Chris Grayling set out alternative plans to give prisoners serving up to six months, or up to four years, a vote in elections.
He also said MPs could defy a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling and keep the blanket ban on prisoners voting in Britain but warned of a "political cost" if they did.
The changes would apply to Westminster and Holyrood elections.
However, the independence poll would not be affected as the ECHR ruling, which said a total ban was contrary to human rights, did not cover referendums.
The Government's draft bill was unveiled yesterday, nine months after MPs rejected lifting the ban.
A spokesman for the Council of Europe, which oversees the human rights court, called on the UK to "move forward" and comply with the ruling.
The draft bill is unlikely to return to Parliament until May 2014. If so it may be "timed out" before the next UK election, due in May 2015, making it doubtful prisoners would vote in the 2016 Holyrood poll.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The Scottish Government does not agree that convicted prisoners should be able to vote."
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