Could the Government Ban Disposable Barbecues This Summer?
The UK government is thinking about banning disposable barbecues because of wildfires this summer. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, said the government was considering it. The prime minister told reporters that single-use grills had caused several recent fires and said people should not use them "at this moment in time" (BBC News).
Burnham did not say whether the government wants to stop shops selling disposable barbecues, stop people using them, or both. Fire chiefs have warned about the devices before, and some shops have already taken them off shelves on their own (BBC News).
The weather is making things worse. Nearly three-quarters of England and all of Wales have been officially declared in drought, which means the ground is very dry and fires can spread easily. The Met Office has issued a rare amber extreme heat warning for Thursday. Temperatures could reach the mid-to-high 30s Celsius in the Midlands and south-east of England, with a possible high of 38C (BBC News).
Politicians from different parties are pushing for action. Labour MP Jon Pearce, who represents High Peak, started a campaign reported by the Manchester Evening News calling on shops to stop selling disposable barbecues while huge wildfires burned in Greater Manchester (Jon Pearce, Facebook). Another Labour MP wrote to large retailers asking them to stop selling the grills for the rest of the summer (BBC News).
Conservative MP Alison Hume, who represents Scarborough and Whitby, repeated her call for a ban after the latest wildfire on the North York Moors (Yorkshire Post). The National Farmers Union wants local councils to stop people using disposable barbecues in public places like parks (BBC News).
The Green Party of England and Wales went further, saying a disposable barbecue had been left discarded among the Greater Manchester fires, and criticising Burnham's response (Green Party, Instagram).
The broader picture is that a "ban" could mean different things depending on who acts. Local councils have the power to stop people using barbecues in specific public spaces, such as parks, without needing new laws. But a national ban on selling disposable barbecues would need the government or Parliament to pass new rules. Burnham's mention of government-level thinking suggests something bigger than local councils acting alone, but because no one has said whether the focus is on selling or using the barbecues, the direction is still unclear.
Fire services in England are run by local councils, while in Wales they are overseen by Welsh ministers. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own separate fire services. So any ban by the UK government would need to respect those different arrangements. Drought conditions have been declared for England and Wales; no equivalent has been reported for Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Some shops have already stopped selling disposable barbecues on their own, so a formal ban would mainly affect those that have not. But for the government, being seen to act quickly may matter more than the details of how a ban would actually work. The prime minister telling people not to use the grills "at this moment in time" suggests the government is comfortable making a public case even before any formal ban is in place.
