Following on from the success of petition 109702 which was debated on 6th June 2016 in Westminster Hall. I would like several issues to be investigated and discussed with a view to changing the legislation on the dates fireworks can be used.
I have signed petitions calling for a change in the law. I believe that the initial petition and debate brought to the fore the problems that pets and their owners have with random fireworks. During the campaign on petition 109702 it became very apparent that not only people with illnesses signed the petition but many people who don’t like fireworks and most tellingly many people who like fireworks but feel that the use on as many nights as the current law permits is too much.
Again the petition is not calling for a ban on domestic fireworks but for the use of them to be curtailed to the traditional dates of Bonfire Night and the weekend of, Chinese New Year, Diwali and New Years Eve. We as a campaign have no desire to impact on professionally organised firework displays as long as they are well advertised.
Both Anna Soubry MP in her written replies and Joe Johnson MP in his closing statement during the debate said the Government believe that there is some use of fireworks and outside the traditional periods, the Government also believes that the majority of people who use fireworks do so at the appropriate times of year. I would like to ask how the Government has come to this conclusion? Is there documented evidence to show that this is in fact the case and not just supposition? As my MP I would ask that you forward this information to me proving this.
It was also suggested during the debate that the current legislation and guidelines are sufficient and that there are guidelines on the use of fireworks on both the Government website and on firework sites. Guidelines are only guidelines and do not take into consideration that many people will not visit these sites, indeed they will only give a cursory look at the instructions enclosed. It does not stop the biggest issue that people currently have with fireworks which is the random use over the year.
It is said that many millions of people enjoy fireworks, what is not said is that there is an equal amount of people who do not. Many of those who enjoy fireworks only enjoy them at the appropriate times of year and abhor the over use of fireworks for any and all reasons. What was once something to look forward to over a few special nights during the year has now become as frequent as a no.37 bus.
In conclusion I would like to say that I am fully aware of firework legislation and the appropriate channels for reporting illegal/misuse of fireworks. I would also take this opportunity to inform you that the campaign is not about the sales of fireworks and to reiterate it is not about a ban. As my MP I require answers to the questions in bold, paragraph 4.
To keep you up to speed I have included links for the original executive summary, the full report and the Hansard transcript.
Executive Summary http://bit.ly/21iMd5f
Full report http://bit.ly/1UOZe1L
Hansard http://bit.ly/1UMpexx