MPs branded ‘killjoys’ for joining calls for Govt to ban garden firework shows
MPs have been branded “killjoys” for joining calls for the Government to ban garden firework shows.
Dozens backed online petitions of more than 300,000 signatures demanding restrictions on sales and the limiting of rockets and bangers to official displays only.
Days after this year’s Bonfire Night, they spoke of the suffering fireworks cause to pets and veterans suffering PTSD.
One MP, Philip Hollobone, called for an “outright ban” on selling the decorative explosives to the public.
He said it would help thousands of animals left “quaking in fear due to loud bangs”. His fellow Tory, Richard Holden, said yobs cause “real damage” with them.
The debate came 416 years after Guy Fawkes’ failed Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament.
Drawing on history to fight the ban, Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “We don’t want to be a Parliament of the kind Oliver Cromwell would have enjoyed, cracking down on every possible bit of fun.
"So no, let us keep enjoying our fireworks.”
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Business minister Paul Scully said it was “not an appropriate cause of action”.
No10 said no ban is planned, insisting fireworks laws are robust.