Welsh Government welcomes XL Bully dog ban promise – “better late than never” as Minister documents pressing issue

Lesley Griffiths MS has welcomed the forthcoming ban on ‘XL Bully’ dogs, but has pointed out she has pressed the issue for many years – with no replies at times.

In the Senedd yesterday Samuel Kurtz MS recounted Welsh incidents as well as wider statistics and invite a statement from the Minister of Rural Affairs, “…two in four fatal dog attacks involved the breed across the UK in 2021. This figure rose to six in 10 in 2022. Since November 2021 three people have lost their lives because of XL bully dogs in Wales—two in Caerphilly and one in Wrexham—as well as what has been described as a savage and rampant rampage of 22 pregnant sheep that were killed on a farm in north Wales earlier this year.”

The Minister, Wrexham’s Lesley Griffiths MS, said she ‘welcomed’ the recent announcement from the Prime Minister to ban XL bully dogs by the end of the year.

The Minister added, “It is very welcome news from the UK Government—I certainly did welcome it, but it’s better late than never. I’m really pleased the UK Government are at last finally taking action. Over the past probably six years, I’ve written to eight various Home Secretaries and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretaries of State, urging them to take some action. The last letter I wrote to Suella Braverman I think was in May; she didn’t even give me the courtesy of a response. So, I am very pleased that, now, the Prime Minister has made this announcement.

“The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, obviously, is not devolved, it’s a reserved matter, and the UK Government have set up a responsible dog ownership group to have a look at this, and my officials are working very closely with UK Government officials. Of course, we can do things here—we do have some powers, obviously, in relation to this.

“I’ve been looking at responsible dog ownership, and I am looking to hold a multi-agency summit, probably next month, to bring together all organisations, because, as you say, we’re seeing far too many dog attacks of the like you described.

“I think the most important thing now is for my officials to work very closely with UK Government officials to make sure that there are no unforeseen consequences of the ban on XL bullies. We certainly don’t want to see a significant number of abandonments, for instance. So, we now need to drill down into the detail.”

The Minister proposed Senedd members an update in the future.