Absolutely. We cannot reduce the issue to numbers; it is about the human impact. There are 25 million attendances at A&E every year, so that figure of 0.03% is 7,500 people. That is incredible. The British Fireworks Association has a list of actions that it thinks the Government could pursue, and we should engage on that. These are difficult times for Government finances, so why not fund some of those measures via a levy on firework sales?
I apologise to Alan Smith for talking about this, but a video was shared locally of a firework being put through someone’s letterbox that could have started a fire in that house. I checked the data, and between 2010 and 2023 there were 291 non-fatal firework-related casualties due to fires, and seven fatalities. Earlier, the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) compared that number with the number of injuries resulting from cows. We are discussing fireworks, not cows. It is time to act and place tighter controls on the sale and import of fireworks. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.
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