It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair today, Sir Edward. I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for presenting the petition. We have this debate every single year—it is heartening to see the widespread support for the debate and for the petitions. I want to thank every single member of the public who signed and shared
them, making sure their voices are heard loud and clear here in Parliament. That is incredibly impressive and to be welcomed.
We have these well-meaning debates every year and we hear the same thing time and again: “Isn’t this awful? Isn’t this horrific? It has a horrible impact on our constituents’ lives”, yet we have not seen action for 10 years. Nothing has changed. We know that the problems exist. The licensing laws mean that any registered seller, even if they do not have a special firework sale licence, can sell fireworks during the festive period. That seems absolutely the wrong way round. At a time when people go out of their way to buy fireworks for bonfire night, new year’s eve and lunar new year, any unlicensed seller can now sell fireworks. That seems a perverse way of doing things. If it is not good enough for the rest of the year, why is it good enough for the part of the year when most fireworks are used?
I have heard people say today, “We have this debate at this time of year because we have had a lot of complaints about firework use in our inboxes”, but for constituencies such as mine in Luton North, this is an all-year-round thing. Fireworks have become not just something for a special event, but something that happens day in, day out—not even always when it is dark, which is bizarre. I have been out on the doorstep in the summer and people have said that they have an issue with fireworks, and those fireworks have gone off in the middle of the day. Their unpredictable nature causes a huge problem, whereas people can plan their lives around properly licensed, regulated and organised professional displays. The chaotic, sporadic and frequent use of very loud fireworks is very different.
I will talk about my private Member’s Bill in a minute, but I think we need to look at licensing because the existing laws are so difficult to enforce. Just six fixed penalty notices have been issued in the past three years, which indicates a serious problem. We know the police are overstretched. I am currently working with Bedfordshire police and Luton borough council on a new way to report fireworks use, but we need to see things change—we need solutions. I am grateful for all the MPs that have supported my private Member’s Bill, particularly my hon. Friends the Members for Newport East (Jessica Morden), for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) and for Glasgow South West (Dr Ahmed). We have to do something different because people with PTSD and people with young children who just want a good night’s sleep are struggling.
Let us not forget the animals. Last week I spoke to Guide Dogs UK and the fireworks lobby, which is very small but very loud, ironically. It tells us we should train our animals better, but nothing is better trained than a guide dog. Guide dog users have told me that during the firework season, they cannot take their dogs out because some of them are so frightened. They described it as like having a car that does not work. Children with special educational needs and disabilities and parents of non-verbal children find it incredibly distressing.
My Bill seeks three simple things. The first is an end to the loophole in licensing for sales, so that we have the same regulations throughout the year—only licensed sellers should be able to sell fireworks. The second is a limit of 90 dB—the same as a lawnmower—on the sound of fireworks that are for general public consumption. At the moment, the limit is 120 dB, which is the sound
of a rock concert. Thirdly, we need to ensure that the loudest categories of fireworks—F2 and F3—are not available for public consumption. We have seen the damage they have caused and heard how they are being used as weapons. If they were anything else, we would be talking about banning them outright. I have learned from my first time around: this is not my first rodeo with a private Member’s Bill on fireworks—it is my second one.
We have also seen a surge in online sales of fireworks, which is a real issue. My Bill covers online as well as high street retailers. We are seeing fireworks advertised on TikTok and Facebook. Those are not places where we should be going to get something so potentially dangerous to the user, as well as those around them. I am grateful that Members in the Chamber seem to be quite supportive of my Bill. There is a difference from previous debates on fireworks: we have had a change of Government and there is a different Minister responding. I hope that he has a different response for us.
5.1 pm