Fireworks Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Caroline Spelman
Main Page: Caroline Spelman (Conservative - Meriden)Department Debates - View all Caroline Spelman's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(6 years, 2 months ago)
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Susan Elan Jones
There is a very strong case for that. At the very least, the Government should launch a public consultation on the issue.
In June 2016 a Minister, the hon. Member for Orpington (Joseph Johnson), stated that the fireworks industry is worth £180 million and directly employs 250 people, and that thousands of others in the supply chain would be affected by new legislation. So there we have it, a Conservative Minister making the economic case for the status quo, and a Back-Bench Labour MP waxing lyrical about bonfire nights in north Wales.
Should that not be the end of the debate, especially when we consider how important fireworks are in bringing people together and in their use across a whole range of multicultural festivals? Can we not just agree that spontaneous communal gatherings with fireworks are such a nice phenomenon and bring such local joy that the only problem is that we do not have more of them? Should we not just recognise that, with the first documented use of fireworks in this country being way back in 1486, it is simply something that we do at local spontaneous gatherings as well as large organised displays? The answer to that is no—the movers of the petition and others have a very valid case to make, and it is supported by a range of people across society.
Dame Caroline Spelman (Meriden) (Con)
I should declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for the horse. Does the hon. Lady agree that it is not only the when, to which the right hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) just referred, but the where? Given the proliferation she is talking about, the proximity of fireworks to horses has cost 15 horses being killed and 60 injured since 2010, and those are just the ones we know about, not to speak of the humans involved, such as when a horse crashes through a fence and into the windscreen of a car. The location of firework displays becomes very important, not only the extended period during which fireworks are let off.
Susan Elan Jones
I agree with the right hon. Lady. For those of us who represent rural or semi-rural seats, that is a particular issue.