Private Members' Bills (PMBs) are public bills introduced by MPs and Lords who are not government ministers. A minority of Private Members' bills become law or they can lead to publicity around an issue, which may affect legislation indirectly.
One of the ways MPs can introduce a Private Members' bill in the House of Commons is via a Ballot. These PMBs get priority for the limited amount of debating time available. The names of twenty MPs are drawn on the second sitting Thursday of a new parliamentary session and the first seven ballot bills are most likely to get a day's debate. This session's ballot took place on Thursday 21 May 2026.
A few years ago, Richard was able to implement real change when he was successful in the ballot and introduced a PMB on Hare Coursing- an issue that was affecting many famers in Bedfordshire and across East Anglia. That Bill was adopted by the then Government and resulted in far stiffer penalties, including prison sentences, for those convicted of that awful crime. You can read more about this at https://www.richardfuller.co.uk/campaigns/hare-coursing
Richard entered the ballot this week but sadly was not successful. You can see the full list of 20 MPs whose names were drawn here.
