🐾 GOVERNMENT IS REVIEWING FIREWORKS LAWS — NOW IS OUR CHANCE TO BE HEARD
🐾 GOVERNMENT IS REVIEWING FIREWORKS LAWS — NOW IS OUR CHANCE TO BE HEARD
Thank you to every one of the more than 1,800 people who has supported this petition. ❤️
When I started this campaign, I wanted to do something about the suffering and wider harm caused year after year by fireworks being freely available for private use. I did not know whether others would feel as strongly as I did.
More than 1,800 of you have now stood with me, and your support has encouraged me not to let this campaign quietly disappear.
There is now an important opportunity for us to act.
🇬🇧 The UK Government is currently holding an official public consultation on fireworks and pyrotechnics. It closes at 11:59pm on Wednesday 7 October 2026.
The Government is considering tighter restrictions, including reducing the permitted noise levels of consumer fireworks and restricting certain products.
This is a positive step and would provide greater protection than we have at present. I welcome measures that reduce the availability and harmful effects of fireworks in private hands. However, I believe the Government should go further.
At present, the fundamental problem remains that powerful fireworks can legally be purchased by adults for private use. An age restriction at the point of sale does not necessarily prevent those fireworks subsequently reaching children and young people.
Restricting who may purchase fireworks is not the same as controlling who ultimately gets their hands on them.
An adult can legally purchase fireworks and subsequently allow them to be used by underage children. Once fireworks leave the controlled point of sale, it becomes extremely difficult to control who ultimately handles or misuses them.
This is not an abstract concern for me. I have personally been a victim of young people deliberately throwing fireworks, and I know first-hand how frightening and dangerous their misuse can be.
Fireworks contain explosive pyrotechnic material capable of causing serious harm. They should not be treated like an ordinary recreational product.
Our objective therefore remains clear:
🎆 END THE SALE OF F2 AND F3 FIREWORKS TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC FOR PRIVATE USE
F2 and F3 fireworks should instead be restricted to appropriately licensed or professionally competent operators for authorised, organised displays.
I have now personally completed the Government consultation and made this case.
🐾 NOW I AM ASKING YOU TO HAVE YOUR SAY TOO
The Government wants to hear from members of the public.
👉 Official Government consultation:
⏰ Deadline: 11:59pm, Wednesday 7 October 2026
I appreciate that Government consultations can look technical and time-consuming. I don't want that to prevent anyone who cares about this issue from participating.
So I have prepared suggested answers to all 10 questions below.
⏱️ WANT TO HELP BUT DON'T HAVE TIME TO WRITE YOUR OWN RESPONSE?
If the suggested answers below genuinely reflect your views, please feel free to copy and paste them into the consultation.
You can use them exactly as written, change them, shorten them or add your own experiences.
If possible, please add even one sentence about your own experience — perhaps how fireworks affect your pets, horses, local wildlife, children, family or neighbourhood.
Personal experiences can help Government understand the real-life consequences behind this issue.
📝 Q1 — OTHER F2 AND F3 FIREWORKS THE GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BUY
Suggested answer:
I believe all F2 and F3 fireworks intended for outdoor recreational use should cease to be available for purchase by the general public for private use and should instead be restricted to appropriately licensed or professionally competent operators for authorised, organised displays.
Restricting individual products does not adequately address the wider problems caused by private fireworks, including severe distress to animals and wildlife, unpredictable noise, injury and fire risks, antisocial behaviour, deliberate misuse as weapons, environmental harm and hazardous debris left behind.
Age-of-sale restrictions alone cannot prevent fireworks legally purchased by an adult from subsequently being passed to or used by children and young people. Once fireworks leave the point of sale, there is limited control over who ultimately handles them. Restricting F2 and F3 fireworks to appropriately controlled professional use would reduce this route of access as well as opportunities for deliberate misuse.
📝 Q2 — CONSEQUENCES OF RESTRICTING THESE PRODUCTS
Suggested answer:
There would inevitably be some impact on manufacturers, retailers and consumers if further fireworks were removed from general sale.
However, these impacts should be weighed against the benefits to public safety, animal welfare, wildlife and communities.
Organised displays would still allow people to enjoy fireworks, but in an environment that can be planned, supervised, appropriately located and publicised in advance.
The interests of consumers wishing to use fireworks privately should be balanced against the involuntary harm and risk imposed upon others.
📝 Q3 — CLARIFYING THE RESTRICTION ON MULTI-SHOT FIREWORKS
Suggested selection: ✅ AGREE
Suggested reason:
I agree. The legislation should be unambiguous about which fireworks are prohibited from sale to the general public.
Clear wording will assist retailers, consumers and enforcement authorities and reduce the scope for differing interpretations or circumvention of restrictions.
However, I believe this clarification should form part of a wider review of public access to F2 and F3 fireworks.
📝 Q4 — REMOVING THE MINIMUM AGE FOR BUYING CHRISTMAS CRACKERS
The current minimum purchasing age for Christmas crackers is 12.
Suggested selection: ❌ DISAGREE
Suggested reason:
I do not see a compelling reason to remove the existing minimum purchasing age of 12.
Christmas crackers are clearly very different from outdoor fireworks and present a substantially lower risk, but retaining a modest minimum purchasing age provides a simple safeguard without preventing their normal family use.
📝 Q5 — OTHER F1 AND P1 PYROTECHNIC PRODUCTS
Suggested answer:
I do not wish to propose changes to specific F1 or P1 products without sufficient evidence about their individual risks and legitimate uses.
My principal concern is the sale of F2 and F3 outdoor fireworks to the general public for private recreational use.
Where evidence shows that an F1 or P1 product is being misused recreationally or causing significant harm, antisocial behaviour or danger to people or animals, I would support appropriate additional controls.
📝 Q6 — REDUCING THE MAXIMUM NOISE LEVEL OF CONSUMER FIREWORKS
The consultation offers lower maximum noise levels of 110 dB, 100 dB or 90 dB, compared with the current maximum of 120 dB.
Suggested selection: 🔊 YES — 90 dB
This is the lowest of the proposed limits and therefore offers the greatest reduction presented in the consultation.
However, quieter fireworks should be regarded as harm reduction rather than a complete solution.
📝 Q7 — POSITIVE EFFECTS OF REDUCING FIREWORK NOISE
Suggested answer:
Reducing the maximum noise level to 90 dB could significantly reduce the disturbance caused by consumer fireworks.
This could particularly benefit pets, wildlife, horses and livestock, as well as vulnerable people, young children and others adversely affected by sudden and unpredictable explosive noise.
It could also reduce neighbourhood noise nuisance, particularly because private fireworks can occur unpredictably over extended periods rather than at a single advertised organised event.
However, reducing noise would not address other problems associated with private fireworks, including injury and fire risks, antisocial behaviour, deliberate misuse as weapons, environmental pollution and hazardous debris.
📝 Q8 — POSSIBLE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF REDUCING FIREWORK NOISE
Suggested answer:
There may be commercial impacts on manufacturers and retailers, including adaptation costs and potentially reduced demand for louder fireworks. Some consumers may also consider quieter fireworks less enjoyable.
There could also be enforcement and compliance costs.
However, I do not believe a preference for louder entertainment should outweigh the involuntary effects imposed upon other people, animals and wildlife.
Those affected by private fireworks have little meaningful ability to avoid them, particularly when they are used unpredictably and without advance notice.
Reducing noise alone would not address many of the other harms associated with private fireworks.
📝 Q9 — HOW LONG SHOULD BUSINESSES HAVE TO PREPARE FOR NEW RULES?
Suggested answer: ⏳ APPROXIMATELY SIX MONTHS
I would suggest a lead-in period of approximately six months.
This should provide businesses with reasonable time to adapt their product ranges, stock management and compliance arrangements while ensuring that measures intended to improve public safety and reduce harm are not unnecessarily delayed.
Any transitional arrangements should have a firm end date and should avoid creating an extended period during which newly restricted products can simply continue to be sold from existing stock.
📝 Q10 — WHAT ELSE SHOULD GOVERNMENT CONSIDER WHEN SETTING THE LEAD-IN PERIOD?
Suggested answer:
The lead-in period should balance the practical needs of legitimate businesses against the need to protect the public, animals and communities without unnecessary delay.
Consideration should be given to existing stock, retailer guidance, online and marketplace sales, and the resources required by Trading Standards, police and other enforcement bodies.
Particular care should be taken to prevent a lengthy transition encouraging stockpiling or allowing large quantities of products due to become restricted to continue circulating amongst the general public.
I consider approximately six months to represent a reasonable balance.
❤️ WHY WE NEED TO SPEAK UP
Reducing firework noise would be welcome, but noise is only one part of the problem.
Private fireworks can cause:
🐾 Fear, panic, injury and trauma to pets, wildlife, horses and livestock
🔊 Unpredictable noise pollution and disturbance, often over prolonged periods
🚓 Antisocial and criminal misuse, including fireworks being thrown or deliberately used as weapons against people and animals, and the risk of fireworks legally purchased by adults subsequently reaching underage children and young people
🔥 Burns, fires, injuries and property damage
🗑️ Dangerous and antisocial litter, including spent rockets, casings, unexploded material and chemical residues left across streets, gardens, lawns and green spaces, where pets and wildlife may encounter or ingest them
🌍 Environmental pollution and disruption to wildlife
👶 Risk and distress to children, vulnerable people and communities
An organised display can be planned, supervised, appropriately located and publicised in advance.
Private fireworks cannot.
🗣️ PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE COUNT
If you signed this petition because you believe fireworks should no longer be freely sold for private use, please take the next step and respond to the Government consultation.
You are welcome to copy and paste the suggested answers above if they represent your views.
It is more important that we make our voices heard than that everyone finds the perfect words.
If you can, add your own experience too.
👉 Official Government consultation:
⏰ Deadline: 11:59pm, Wednesday 7 October 2026
And please continue to share this petition with friends, family, neighbours, animal lovers and anyone who believes celebrations should not come at the expense of others.
🐾 SHARE AND SUPPORT THE ORIGINAL PETITION HERE:
Every additional signature strengthens our collective voice and helps demonstrate how many people want meaningful change.
Animals cannot respond to a Government consultation. We can.
🐾 They rely upon us for protection. Let us use this opportunity to speak for them.
Thank you for standing with me and for helping to take this campaign forward. ❤️🐾