Police need more money for XL bully ban, says London mayor
The ban, which came into force last week after a number of attacks, means the dogs can be seized and potentially destroyed.
Wednesday 7 February 2024 09:32, UK
The Met Police need extra money to deal with the XL bully ban, the Mayor of London has told the government.
New legislation that came into force last week means unregistered dogs can be seized, with owners fined and prosecuted, and the animals potentially destroyed.
Sadiq Khan, who is also the police and crime commissioner for the Met, has told the government he needs an extra £4m in central funding to deal with the extra call-outs and to provide kennels for the detained dogs.
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It is also illegal to sell, give away, abandon or breed the large canines.
Mr Khan supports the ban and has said that XL bully dogs "can devastate families and we've seen some appalling cases in recent weeks".
But he wrote to Greg Hands, the minister for London, earlier this week to ask for more funding.
"The Met are rightly devoting a lot of resources to tackling dangerous dogs, including attending callouts and putting any illegally-owned dogs into kennels," Mr Khan wrote.
"We now need ministers to step up and cover the cost of this work, which will now cost the Met £4m a year, as well as the huge £240m shortfall facing the service for its unique capital city and national policing responsibilities.
"Earlier this week I wrote to the minister for London around the vital issue of police funding and the real impact years of chronic underfunding and real term cuts by government is having on the service the Met can deliver to Londoners.
"This is just the latest example of the government talking tough, but failing to provide the funding needed to the police and other agencies who have to enforce the law."
The ban on XL bullys was introduced following numerous instances of people being attacked, with some even being killed, by the dogs.
A woman was mauled to death by two XL bully dogs in Essex on Saturday.
The owner said he had previously dismissed the government's ban on the breed as "stupid", but is now calling for them to be "wiped out".
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Mr Khan is facing his third election campaign to be Mayor of London, with a vote taking place in May. The Conservative candidate is Susan Hall.
The government has been approached for comment.