Brighton MPs aim to change the law through separate private member’s bills

Both Brighton MPs are to present private member’s bills in the House of Commons on Friday (9 November).

Simon Kirby is to present his Disabled Persons’ Parking Badges Bill while Caroline Lucas will present her Land Value Tax Bill.

Mr Kirby, the Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown, wants to clamp down on the abuse of the blue badges which are intended to make parking easier for disabled people.

He is due to report that his bill is unamended when it comes before the Commons on Friday.

If no changes are proposed, it is likely to pass both the report stage and third reading, meaning that it will have been agreed by the Commons.

It will then go to the House of Lords where Tanni Grey-Thompson – now Lady Grey-Thompson – will act as the bill’s sponsor.

The bill has commanded cross-party support and appears to have a good chance of becoming law.

Dr Lucas’s bill has the support of Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins and two Liberal Democrats, Adrian Sanders and Martin Horwood.

But the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion has less chance of seeing her bill become law. It faces its second reading on Friday.

The bill would require the government to commission research into the merits of replacing the council tax and non-domestic rates in England with an annual levy on the unimproved value of land.

The research would have to completed within a year.