Disposable Barbecue Ban Under Consideration as Wildfires Spread

The UK government is considering a ban on disposable barbecues as drought-fuelled wildfires sweep parts of the country, according to Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester. The prime minister separately told reporters that single-use grills had caused several recent fires and that people should not use them "at this moment in time" (BBC News).

Burnham did not say whether the government was looking at restricting the sale of disposable barbecues, their use, or both. That distinction matters: a retail ban would stop shops selling them, while a restriction on use would limit where and when people could light them. Fire chiefs have warned about the devices before, and some retailers have already pulled them from shelves voluntarily (BBC News).

The backdrop is severe. Nearly three-quarters of England and all of Wales have been officially declared in drought, leaving ground conditions ripe for fire. The Met Office has issued a rare amber extreme heat warning for Thursday, with temperatures expected to reach the mid-to-high 30s Celsius across the Midlands and south-east of England, and a possible high of 38C (BBC News).

Political pressure has been building across party lines. Labour MP Jon Pearce, who represents High Peak, launched a campaign — reported by the Manchester Evening News — calling on retailers to suspend sales of disposable barbecues as huge wildfires burned across Greater Manchester (Jon Pearce, Facebook). A separate Labour MP wrote to large retailers urging them to halt sales for the rest of the summer (BBC News).

On the Conservative side, MP Alison Hume, who represents Scarborough and Whitby, repeated her call for a public ban after the latest wildfire on the North York Moors (Yorkshire Post). The National Farmers Union has urged local councils to use public space protection orders — legal tools that let councils restrict activities in defined public areas — to limit disposable barbecue use in parks and open spaces (BBC News).

The Green Party of England and Wales has gone further, saying a disposable barbecue had been found discarded among the Greater Manchester fires and criticising Burnham's response to the situation (Green Party, Instagram).

The broader context here is one of fragmented governance, which affects what a "ban" would actually involve. Drought declarations are formal legal orders handled by the Environment Agency in England and by Natural Resources Wales. Public space protection orders, the tool the NFU wants councils to use, sit with local authorities under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 — they allow councils to restrict activities in defined public spaces without needing new laws from Parliament. A national ban on sales, by contrast, would require either ministerial regulation or parliamentary action. Burnham's reference to government-level consideration suggests something beyond the local council route, but without clarity on whether sale or use is the target, the direction of policy remains genuinely unclear.

Fire and rescue services in England operate under local authority oversight, while in Wales they fall to Welsh ministers. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own separate structures, so any UK-government ban would need to account for devolved responsibilities — powers held by the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd (the Welsh parliament), and the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont. Drought conditions have been declared for England and Wales; no equivalent declaration appears in verified reporting for Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The retail response adds another factor. With some chains already acting on their own, a formal ban would catch those who have not. But the political advantage for ministers lies partly in being seen to act decisively, rather than in the practical details of enforcement. The prime minister's direct public comment that people should not use the grills "at this moment in time" signals that the government is comfortable making the case publicly, even before any formal restriction is in place.