SNP backsliding on measures to tackle the menace of fireworks

As Edinburgh police crank up the now annual Operation Moonbeam to try to quell Bonfire Night trouble before it begins, I'm baffled by the SNP's reluctance to crack down on what is a constant problem and a massive drain on police resources.

- Sue Webber

The Nationalist government likes acting tough on things like ramping up income tax, trans rights and this week, breaking up rural estates which support hundreds of badly needed countryside jobs.

But when it comes to a very obvious annual problem like the antisocial use of fireworks, enthusiasm is becoming a lot harder to detect.

For years I have been calling for tougher restrictions on the availability of fireworks and three years ago the apparently “groundbreaking” Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act was passed, which among other things empowered councils to impose firework control zones.

Nine zones have been introduced in Edinburgh, with one going down the middle of Hay Drive in Niddrie, the focus of the 2023 riots, presumably meaning it will be OK to fire off rockets on one side of the street but not the other.