Fireworks: Public Sales

Jessica Morden Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2018 Westminster Hall

[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

My hon. Friends the Members for Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones) and for Stroud (Dr Drew) said that they thought that we were all going to say more or less the same thing in this debate. I can confirm, as the last speaker before the winding-up speeches, that we are indeed all going to say the same thing—but I will say it briefly. I would like to repeat, on behalf of the 905 constituents of Newport East who signed the petition that has brought us here today, all the calls to restrict the sale of fireworks. Newport East had the seventh highest number of petitioners of any constituency in the UK and the highest number in Wales, and I would very much like to give voice to their concerns today.

My hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones), in her excellent opening remarks, talked about the rosy glow of firework nights in times past. I take part in this debate with a bit of a heavy heart, because my late and wonderful dad very much disliked and railed against what he called organised fun and insisted that absolutely every year on 5 November we had a firework display in the back garden, rather than going to a public display. With that background, I certainly do not want to deny families that fun and time of celebration, but the problem, as everyone has said in the debate, is that the days of a small tin of fireworks in the back garden, let off at 8 o’clock on bonfire night, are gone. They are not completely gone, but they have been overtaken. The firework season was once a few days but now seems to run on a prolonged loop from October all the way to January. In addition, fireworks are bigger, louder and more powerful and sold not just in supermarkets but in the endless pop-up shops that appear and disappear on our high streets at the drop of a hat. People can get big and very powerful fireworks from overseas on the internet. The scale of what happens and the availability of fireworks are very different now.

The problem exists in the build-up and aftermath, from Halloween through bonfire night and all the way to the new year; and particularly this year around bonfire night, I, like other hon. Members, received a host of emails and messages from constituents complaining about the distress that fireworks can cause to vulnerable loved ones, pets and other animals—livestock has been mentioned. Many of the complaints related to antisocial behaviour, and I think it is true to say that the firework season has become an excuse for a destructive minority to cause misery for the public at large.

I would therefore like to praise the partnership work between Gwent police, the fire service and other organisations, such as Newport Live. One example is Operation BANG—Be A Nice Guy. Its aim is to reduce antisocial behaviour, particularly around Halloween and bonfire night. I praise Newport Live for the diversionary activity that it puts in place every year for young people in our communities in Newport.

Despite that, one constituent this year told me that he had come home from work early, at 2 pm, on the day of bonfire night to find teenagers in his back garden throwing fireworks at the house, deliberately aiming to frighten his two young children. Another resident, an on-call carer, described fireworks being thrown at her as she walked down the street, and witnessing a mother run down a nearby road with a toddler as fireworks were thrown at her and her child. Similarly, a former NHS worker wrote to me to describe the firework-inflicted burns he regularly dealt with in A&E on bonfire night. One local family lived through this when their four-year-old daughter was hit in the neck by a firework at a private display last year.

I have a hamster and although I do not have a hamster-related fireworks story, I have received many complaints about the impact on pets. Many constituents told me that their pets were completely traumatised and will not go outside. One dog-owner described his beloved pet spending most of bonfire night

“quivering in a corner and panting so vigorously I thought he would have a heart attack.”

Another constituent told me how his dog injured his teeth and claws while trying to dig and gnaw through a wall, in response to loud bangs from the street outside.

I also pay tribute to the emergency services for their work on bonfire night, including the fire service, police and health workers, who experience one of the busiest nights of the year and do all that they can with stretched resources. It is important to emphasise, as other hon. Members have, that Gwent police, for instance, has seen its budget cut by 40% since 2010. The story is similar across the country. It is really difficult for police forces and local authorities, which do the licensing, to tackle this growing problem when they are already so stretched. We need to do more to address that.

I also agree with all the well-made points about noise pollution and pollution generally. Like other hon. Members, I attended the recent drop-in event in Parliament, where a number of charities including Dogs Trust, Blue Cross, British Veterinary Association, Cats Protection and others put forward the case for a review of existing fireworks legislation. That was with a view to introducing further much-needed restrictions on their use, particularly outside organised public displays. The RSPCA has also voiced its support for a restriction on the private use of fireworks to certain traditional dates, such as 5 November, new year’s eve, Chinese new year and Diwali, and a reduction in the maximum noise level to 97 dB, which is proven to cause less distress to animals. Its call for tougher licensing for public and private displays is something for the Government to consider, and I think that is a sensible and proportionate approach.

I absolutely agree with those charities and my constituents that something needs to change if we are to help limit the distress caused by fireworks to vulnerable people and animals. Progress has been made since the Fireworks Regulations 2004, which restricted sales, but further action is needed. Finally, I hope the Government will reflect on the contributions to this debate and consider undertaking a review of firework displays. I very much support the e-petition on behalf of the 905 people in my constituency who signed it.