Fire Brigade and police unions call for UK Government to restrict sale of fireworks

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) Scotland have urged the UK Government to restrict the sale of fireworks after chaos on Bonfire Night.The unions have called for Westminster to ban fireworks from general public sale or to give the Scottish Government powers to do so.It comes after eight cops were injured on Bonfire Night as fire crews and police were attacked.A House of Commons Library request from Alba MP Kenny MacAskill revealed that the sale of fireworks is reserved to Westminster.

The use of them is devolved to Holyrood.Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance said last month that she was "open to discussion" around an outright ban on fireworks but admitted she did not have the power to make it happen.MacAskill has written to Tory Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch asking her to intervene.FBU Scotland executive council member Colin Brown said: "This year in Scotland, we witnessed an increase in fire crews coming under attack from missiles and fireworks deliberately directed towards firefighters and fire appliances."Mr MacAskill's calls for the Westminster Government to restrict the manufacture and sale of fireworks under their reserved powers, or for the devolution of powers to allow the Scottish Government to do so is a position that aligns to the FBU's in regard to fireworks."SPF general secretary David Kennedy said: "The Scottish Police Federation are fully supportive of a more direct approach at dealing with fireworks at source."The recent legislation is not robust enough and still leaves the police having to try to catch those who will undoubtedly ignore the law."We have advocated that fireworks should be banned from general public sale as this will help to stop youths and