Andy Burnham has urged shops to stop selling disposable barbecues amid increased wildfire risk driven by this summer's droughts. The prime minister said he was urging "all retailers big and small" to adhere to voluntary guidance to suspend sales during extreme heat. He added that in the "longer term" the government would look at potentially banning the single-use grills during summer months.
It comes after a potential ban was discussed at an emergency Cobra meeting on the government's response to record temperatures. A number of large retailers and supermarkets have voluntarily stopped selling the devices under a framework, external agreed in 2023 between fire chiefs and the British Retail Consortium (BRC). This says that retailers should suspend sales once an extreme heat event has been declared as imminent, or in response to "reasonable, evidence based" requests from local councils.
Earlier, Burnham told reporters single-use grills had been behind a number of recent blazes and people should not be using them "at this moment in time". "We do want people to take the greatest possible care when they are out in the countryside, both in terms of cigarettes, but also those temporary barbecues that we know are causing risk of fires." After the Cobra meeting, Burnham said: "We would say to retailers do not put disposable barbecues on sale at this moment in time." Nearly three-quarters of England and all of Wales have been officially declared in drought, creating conditions rife for fire to spread. The Met Office has issued a rare amber extreme heat warning for Thursday, with temperatures peaking in the mid-to-high 30s across the Midlands and south-east of England, and a high of 38C possible.
Firefighters brace for 30C heat as they battle 'unpredictable' New Forest wildfire A Labour MP wrote to large retailers last week in a bid to stop them selling disposable barbecues for the rest of the summer, whilst a number of Lib Dem MPs have also backed restrictions. The National Farmers Union has also called on local councils to issue public space protection orders to restrict their use in public areas. Authorities including Brighton & Hove and Fylde, in Lancashire, are among councils to have used these orders to ban single-use grills in recent years.
Those who defy such orders can currently be fined up to £100, a limit that is set to rise to £500 in future. Councils intending to issue the orders are required to consult residents beforehand, and gather evidence of an ongoing risk to quality of life in a particular area. The Cobra meeting was attended by ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Home Office, and Department for Health, as well as the Environment Agency.
There has already been one Cobra meeting on heatwaves this year chaired by officials, but this was the first such emergency session chaired by Burnham. In June, the government under previous prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that specialist firefighters would be positioned in key locations across England in response to wildfire risks, with forces encouraged to use a government fund to upgrade equipment. Burnham had faced calls from the Green Party to chair a Cobra meeting on the heatwaves, with leader Zack Polanksi accusing the prime minister of inaction amid threats to public health and food supplies.
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