Scottish National Party (SNP) ministers are under fire for allegedly compromising public safety by scrapping planned stricter regulations on fireworks ahead of Bonfire Night, amidst ongoing concerns about potential public unrest.

The Scottish Government has confirmed that its once-anticipated legislation, which aimed to introduce a licensing system for firework purchases and limit their sale to specific days each year, has been shelved.

This decision has sparked criticism from the Scottish Conservatives, who fear a resurgence of what they describe as the “disgraceful violence” witnessed in recent years. Meanwhile, Scottish Labour has labeled the situation as “farcical.”

On Guy Fawkes Night last year, firefighters faced dangerous conditions as they were pelted with bricks, bottles, and fireworks while responding to over 1,000 emergency calls.

Incidents of unruly behavior were reported in areas such as Clydebank, Glasgow, West Lothian, and several parts of Edinburgh, where significant disturbances prompted the deployment of a police helicopter.

In a previous commitment to curb the misuse of pyrotechnics, the SNP had pledged to implement a licensing system for firework purchases by late 2023 or early 2024.

Legislation passed in 2022 but later paused was also meant to limit sales to selected days.

But SNP community safety minister Siobhian Brown said the Government would ‘not progress’ either plan in order to ‘focus resources’ on frontline police and fire services.

Riot Police in Niddrie, Edinburgh, last year as fireworks, rocks and glass bottles werethrown at them 

Thugs set off fireworks in Edinburgh during disorder last year

Scottish Tory MSP Sharon Dowey said: ‘We warned that the SNP’s bungled fireworks bill was unworkable – and public safety is being put at risk as it unravels.

‘Police officers, firefighters and terrified residents should not have to suffer scenes of disgraceful violence every year, so SNP ministers must explain to them why they have ditched this key promise.’

Holyrood passed the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act three years ago, with an SNP minister hailing it as ‘groundbreaking legislation’ which would address ‘the harm and distress fireworks can cause’.

It gave councils the power to ban fireworks from ‘control zones’, but ministers later paused other parts of the law, including a ban on selling fireworks for most of the year and a permit scheme to buy them, blaming a squeeze on Holyrood’s budget.

In 2023, an SNP minister told Holyrood’s criminal justice committee there would only be a ‘slight delay’ to the licensing system.

But the Scottish Sun reported Ms Brown, who last year assured MSPs she was ‘working to a timeline of early 2026’ for fireworks licensing, has now dropped the plans altogether.

Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: ‘This farcical U-turn shows the SNP has no idea what it is doing.

‘The SNP has wasted everyone’s time and made a mockery of the Scottish Parliament by asking all parties to vote for a scheme they had no idea how to implement.

Police Scotland previously seized illegal fireworks worth up to £100,000 in West Lothian

Police night vision cameras caught youths running wild and hurling fireworks in Edinburgh last year

‘This is yet another SNP promise that has been quietly dumped – but not before wasting time and public money on a damp squib.

‘The SNP must now set out how it will maintain public order and keep communities safe on Bonfire night this year.’

Independent MSP Ash Regan, who piloted the law through Holyrood as an SNP minister, said: ‘It’s not good enough to bring in legislation that isn’t brought into force.

‘The Government should have prioritised getting this scheme up and running.

‘Communities across Scotland will be very angry at the lack of action when the same anti-social issues that have blighted our communities are evident again this year.’

Ms Brown said: ‘We have introduced a number of measures to improve firework safety, including a ban on providing fireworks to under-18s and making attacks on emergency workers using fireworks an aggravating factor that courts can take into account when sentencing offenders.

‘We are focusing our resources on frontline public services, including police and fire. As a result, we will not progress plans to implement a fireworks licencing scheme or restrictions on the days on which fireworks can be supplied and used.’