Brits are flocking to fields and gardens across the country for the annual Bonfire Night celebrations – as huge effigies of Keir Starmer and Donald Trump are set to burn.
Tonight colourful fireworks and bonfires will be visible in many places as the nation commemorates the failed Gunpowder Plot of November 5 1605 – when Guy Fawkes and his conspirators tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I.
In Lewes, Sussex, torch bearers in historic garb paraded through the town centre in one of the UK’s largest and most famous Bonfire Night celebrations, as police warned of road closures and safety concerns.
A huge effigy of Donald Trump is set to burn in the Sussex town tonight, created by the Southover Bonfire Society and featuring the US President as Captain America standing on top of a decapitated Statue of Liberty.
In Glasgow and Edinburgh, Firework Control Zones (FCZs) have been put in place – three in Glasgow and nine across Edinburgh.
FCZs in Scotland are defined geographical areas designated by local authorities where it is a criminal offence for a member of the public to set off fireworks, including on private property.
An effigy of Donald Trump (pictured) is set to be burnt in Lewes tonight
An effigy of the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, will also be burnt in Lewes. The structure shows juggling balls reading ‘cabinet reshuffle’, ‘100 in One Out’ and ‘inflation nation’
Participants of Lewes’ famous annual Bonfire Night festivities parade through the town with flaming torches
Meanwhile, in Kent, a huge effigy of Keir Starmer stands in a field waiting to be lit, featuring a badge saying ‘Starmer the Farmer Harmer’ and a digital ID in his pocket.
The monstrous Starmer effigy, designed by artist Andrea Deans, will be burned at the Edenbridge Bonfire Society’s annual bonfire night celebrations on November 8.
Edenbridge has been poking fun at celebrities for more than 20 years, with previous targets including Boris Johnson and Donald Trump.
Earlier this year Labour’s inheritance tax raid on farmers sparked protests throughout the UK as the party was warned it would spell the end of farm shops.
Edenbridge Bonfire Society has gained a reputation for using their effigy’s to poke fun at celebrities, as well as politicians and their decision-making since 1994.
Among their previous targets include, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump as well as London Mayor Sadiq Khan and his ULEZ policy.
Lewes Bonfire Night in Sussex is one of the largest and best known in the UK, attracting huge crowds to the town centre
Earlier, local businesses in Lewes had prepared for the annual bonanza by boarding up their shopfronts
Members of the Edenbridge Bonfire Society unveiled their ‘Celebrity Guy’ for 2025 – Keir Starmer
Pictured: a huge community bonfire and fireworks display in Penrhys, Rhondda Cynon Taff in South Wales tonight
Last year the group previously took aim at Ticketmaster amid outrage over the sites dynamic pricing as fans scrambled to buy Oasis tickets last year.
This year however, the creators wanted to take the tradition back to its more political roots.
Bill Cummings, chairman of the Bonfire Society, said: ‘This decision is a great opportunity to remind everyone why we have Bonfire Night in the first place, a message that has perhaps been forgotten over more recent years.’
The Prime Minister’s effigy is holding a clipboard with ‘Suck up to Trump’ written in big letters and policies such as the new ‘one in, one out’ agreement with France crossed out.
Sir Keir also has his own links to the area having been raised in nearby Oxted and is said to have been part of one of the local football teams in Edenbridge.
Andrea Deans, one of the creators of this year’s effigy, said: ‘We feel the public have chosen well this year when you look at how the current government is treating its citizens.
The effigy, standing at a whopping 11 metres tall, will be burnt on Saturday alongside a giant Guy Fawkes
Pictured: an effigy of Guy Fawkes is paraded through the town in Lewes
Police officers patrol the streets in Edinburgh, Scotland. Firework Control Zones have been put in place in nine areas across Scotland’s capital
‘There were so many elements we could include on the effigy, and it was interesting working out how these could be represented visually.’
Other contenders for the 2025 event included Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Andrew Tate, Baroness Michelle Mone and MP Angela Rayner.
‘Many of my friends are from the farming community and I know they will be delighted with who we have chosen this year,’ said Reece Hook, another effigy creator.
Edenbridge Bonfire Society has been celebrating Bonfire Night for nearly a century but began the tradition of burning giant effigies in the mid-1990s.
Sir Winston Churchill is one of several famous figures to have opened the Kent town’s Bonfire Night celebrations.
This year more than 500 people are expected to take part in the torchlit parade through Edenbridge High Street.
One bonfire attendee in Lewes held a cutout skull with a sign below reading ‘No popery’. Bonfire Night is an annual celebration of the failed Gunpowder Plot, which was an attempt over 400 years ago by Catholic conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament
Participants bearing torches march through the town of Lewes, holding aloft the flaming crosses
The streets in Lewes were packed tonight as crowds gathered to watch the festivities
From 1850, Bonfire Night developed into the more formalised processions seen today, commemorating the seventeen Protestant martyrs.
Bonfire Societies across the UK usually parade through their towns and villages, with the night ending with the burning of effigies.
