LIB DEM ANTI-GRAFFITI IDEAS NOW BEFORE PARLIAMENT

27.02.02

This week in Parliament has seen two anti-graffiti initiatives led by London Liberal Democrats come to fruition. With graffiti still a major problem in the Royal Borough, Edward Davey, Lib Dem MP for Kingston and Surbiton, has welcomed this week's developments as "important steps forward" and criticised the Conservatives for failing to play their part either nationally or locally.

The first successful initiative was today's Commons debate on "Government Policy on Graffiti" called for by Liberal Democrats. In the debate, Liberal Democrat MPs Edward Davey, Tom Brake and Paul Burstow won new commitments from Home Office Minister, John Denham, to look at fresh ideas for tackling graffiti vandalism, including ensuring police and councils had all necessary powers and encouraging greater awareness amongst magistrates of new tougher penalties for graffiti vandals. Unfortunately, no Conservative MPs bothered to turn up for the debate to support these ideas.

The second successful initiative came with the Second Reading of the London Local Authorities Bill in the House of Lords on Tuesday 26th February. This Bill takes up ideas promoted by Kingston's two Lib Dem MPs, Jenny Tonge and Edward Davey, and in Clause 18 would make it "an offence to supply, in the course of a business, aerosol paints or indelible marker pens to any person apparently under the age of 18". Kingston's Jenny Tonge previously had a Ten Minute Rule Bill proposing to ban the sale of spray paint cans to minors and this new Bill clearly borrows from her work.

Speaking after today's Commons debate on tackling graffiti, local MP Edward Davey said:

"I'm delighted Liberal Democrat proposals to tackle graffiti are not only being taken seriously by the Home Office, but are now before Parliament. They now stand a good chance of becoming law.

"We have to crack down on the supply of these paints and markers, which are being marketed by some unscrupulous retailers at teenagers, almost with direct provocations to them to commit vandalism. Some firms even market balaclavas alongside the paints.

"Kingston is still plagued by the graffiti problem. So I'm especially disappointed that Conservative-run Kingston Council has so far proved so ineffective in getting to grips with this epidemic. First they denied the problem. Then they were forced into drawing up a plan. Yet months later, they have yet to tackle this problem firmly. So these ideas my colleagues and I are pressing for nationally are even more important to local people."

Read the draft law on Parliament's site.