Take a bow Humza Yousaf. Just two months after his government opted out of a UK-mainland-wide ban on XL American bully dogs, SNP ministers have today caved in and admitted defeat. Yousaf threw in the towel today at First Ministers’ Questions, telling MSPs that – surprise, surprise – Holyrood will now ‘in essence replicate’ UK legislation banning XL bully dogs without a licence. And to think he could have saved himself eight weeks of hassle. According to the flailing First Minister:
What has become clear, I’m afraid in the last few weeks, is we have seen a flow of XL bully dogs coming to Scotland, a number of people coming to Scotland to bring XL bully dogs here to the country. As such, we will give further details to members of the Scottish Parliament through a parliamentary statement if the Parliamentary Bureau agrees next week.
Gee, if only someone could have seen that coming. This was of course precisely why Michael Gove proposed in November an initiative covering England, Wales and Scotland – only for Yousaf’s Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown to argue she knew better. Indeed, she even backed a campaign by animal charity the Scottish SPCA arguing that XL bullys are not a dangerous breed.
Fast forward two months and Brown was out on the airwaves last week, complaining about the dogs and trying to suggest that the onus should be on England and Wales to hold owners accountable for their actions. Talk about chutzpah. Today’s news follows a string of attacks in Scotland by the pugnacious pooches, including one 77-year-old who spent 11 days in hospital after being mauled by an XL bully in Clackmannanshire.
Will Humza have the decency to look her in the eye and admit his mistake? Don’t count on it.
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