Her Commons motion has won cross party support for a change in the law

and faith groups but not the public

A family which lost a three month old baby has called for the Government to stop charging VAT on gravestones and other memorials.

Phil Edwards said there was no 'value added' to a dead child and Chancellor George Osborne is facing calls to extend a VAT refund scheme on headstones to the public.

Green MP Caroline Lucas, Mr Edward's MP in Brighton, has tabled a Commons motion to endorse the campaign and has won support from MPs in five other parties.

Phil Edwards, pictured with baby Robert in 1990, has today called for an existing VAT refund scheme on gravestones and memorials to be extended and for ministers to lobby in Europe for a new outright expemption

Robert died when he was just three months old. Green MP Caroline has picked up the campaign on behalf of her constituents and set about gaining cross party support for a change

Mr Edwards told said his campaign was triggered by the purchase of a memorial vase for his son Robert.

He said: 'One of the most distressing things about placing the order for such a vase, was the calculation of the value added tax to be paid on the transaction.

'I would challenge anyone to explain the value to be found in having a dead child.

'When a child dies, the funeral is zero rated, but value added tax is imposed on any memorial to that child be it a headstone, planter, rose bush or entry into a book of remembrance.

'There is no value in the death of a child and this insensitive practice of applying VAT on the act of remembering needs to be changed.'

Mr Edward added: 'Would it not be a proud and defining moment if the United Kingdom were to be instrumental in at least raising the issue at a European level demonstrating that it is possible to combine compassion and taxation.'

Robert died at just three months old in 1990 after developing an infection following heart surgery.

Mr Edwards said charities and faith groups could already get a VAT refund on memorials and urged the Government to extend this scheme.

Creating outright exemptions from VAT is against EU rules but Mr Edwards said ministers should lobby for a change.

Exemptions currently apply to burials and cremations but not the memorials which follow.

There are also existing VAT exemptions on items including lottery tickets, antiques, books and newspapers.

Ms Lucas has tabled an early day motion in the Commons to raise awareness of the campaign.

The campaign has been supported by Ms Lucas, left on the picket line this week, with a motion in Parliament. The Chancellor, right in Berlin yesterday, is barred under European law from creating new VAT exceptions is being urged to extend an existing VAT refund scheme to the public.

She told MailOnline: 'I'm absolutely convinced that the vast majority of MPs will agree with me in thinking that this tax is inexcusable and must be scrapped.

'This is an unnecessary and insensitive tax on the bereaved and those who wish to honour the memory of loved ones.

'The Government must extend the VAT refund scheme to all memorials and raise at European level the possibility of abolishing such taxes altogether.

'Phil's campaign – borne from the tragic death of his son – is hugely inspiring and I'm confident that the Government will see sense and work to end this injustice.'

Ms Lucas's motion has so far been backed by more than 20 MPs from five parties.

The signatories include senior Labour MP Keith Vaz, several members of the SNP and other parties from Northern Ireland.

The motion reads: 'That this House notes with concern that value added tax is applicable to the erection and maintenance of memorials to the deceased.

'(It) considers this to be an unnecessary and insensitive tax on the bereaved and those who wish to honour the memory of loved ones.

'(It) observes that a tax refund for charities and faith groups for the erection of memorials has been in place for some years now in the form of the Memorial Grant Scheme.

'(It) calls on the Government to extend the scheme to all memorials

'And (it) urges the Government to raise at European level the possibility of abolishing such taxes altogether.'