Andy Burnham has urged retailers to withdraw disposable barbecues from sale in an effort to prevent wildfires as the heatwave continues.
The Prime Minister urged “all retailers big and small” to pull the barbecues from their shelves as he warned extreme heat conditions “could be with us for some weeks yet”.
His comments came after chairing a meeting of the Government’s emergency Cobra committee in response to the prolonged spell of exceptionally hot and dry weather.
England and Wales have already seen as many wildfires this year as in the whole of 2025.
Some 1,017 wildfires have been recorded in England and Wales this year, according to data shared by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), the same as last year’s record-breaking total.
Most major UK supermarkets have suspended sales of disposable barbecues in recent weeks in line with voluntary guidance from the NFCC.
Mr Burnham urged all shops to stop selling them and indicated that an outright ban could be considered in future summers.
He said: “The big risk in terms of risk to the wider regions across the country is the risk of wildfires. What we are seeing is multiple serious incidents across the country.
“Fire services, by and large, are supporting each other through mutual aid to deal with those incidents but we are keeping a very close watching brief on them.
“There is advice to the public here not to use disposable barbecues. We have today confirmed through the National Fire Chiefs Council that the framework restricting the retail sale of those disposable barbecues is being extended.
“Now I would ask all retailers big and small to adhere to that framework.
“Longer term we will look at whether a temporary ban in the summer months is justified.”
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