Michael Fabricant tonight expressed his disappointment that controls cannot
be in place to control the sale of fireworks this Bonfire Night despite a
law being in place. "Will a child be maimed or killed as a consequence?"
he asks.

Tough laws to clamp down on irresponsible sales of fireworks to children
will not be in force in time to tackle the dangers of this year’s bonfire
night. Ministers are expected to bring forward their proposals on
Wednesday, after Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official spokesman insisted
there were issues to do with ‘implementation’ that needed to be resolved.
Mr Blair’s spokesman said: "We only got the act through a few weeks ago.
There are issues in respect of implementation but clearly we want to do it
as quickly as possible."

But Michael Fabricant says "The Fireworks Act was rushed through Parliament
and became law on 18th September in order that it should be ready to control
fireworks sales for this coming November 5th. And for many months before,
the Government knew the contents of the new fireworks law. They could have
instructed the civil service to be ready once the law was passed. Instead,
the Government did nothing. I hope no child is injured or killed this Guy
Fawkes night as a consequence of the faffing and incompetence that this
Government seems to be suffering from."