Fireworks: Public Sales

Emma Hardy Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2018 Westminster Hall

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered e-petition 231147 relating to the sale of fireworks to the public.

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr McCabe. The petition calls for a ban on the sale of fireworks to the public and for a move to organised displays only. Numerous petitions about fireworks have been submitted through the Petitions Committee website; if memory serves, this is our third petitions debate about them. Debates on fireworks have also been initiated by hon. Members and numerous parliamentary questions have been asked about related issues. The Facebook page that we set up for comments on this petition has received 956 engagements and been viewed by 4,800 accounts, while more than 61,000 viewed the digital debate. That is a real measure of the public concern about the issue, which the Government ignore at their peril.

Let us be honest: a lot of us look at fireworks through the rosy glow of our childhoods, but we ought to remember that the occasions we look back on usually took place only on 5 November and were very limited in scope—in our case, it was dad letting off a few fireworks, with a packet of sparklers for the kids and a Catherine wheel that never went round properly and burned the shed door. Fireworks are now used on many more occasions. They are common at new year—when I was growing up, the most excitement we got at new year was train drivers sounding their hooters at midnight. Fireworks are also used on other occasions such as Diwali and Chinese new year, understandably, and they are even used on family occasions such as weddings and birthdays. As they have come to be used more frequently, they have grown more powerful and noisier. It was concern about that issue that led to the Fireworks Act 2003.

[Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) (Lab)]

I am sure my hon. Friend agrees that at the moment perhaps one of the only things that unites the whole country is our love of animals. As she mentions, we have regulations on when fireworks can be sold but none on when they can be used. Surely, to protect our dear cats—like my beloved Thomas and Serena—from distress, there should be limits on when fireworks can be used throughout the year.

[Helen Jones]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, which I shall address later in my speech.

The 2003 Act, which began as a private Member’s Bill but was supported by the then Labour Government, was an enabling Act that allowed Ministers to make regulations to control fireworks and explosives.