Ministers have suggested that all breeds of dogs be covered by compulsory third party liability policies, and have asked whether owners who fail to take out insurance should be punished with fines or other sanctions.
There are pet insurance companies. They would clearly benefit from the passing of such a law.
Someone should start tabling questions in the House. Which Ministers have met representatives of such companies? Which such companies have made donations to which political parties? Who knows who?
If this were a law being proposed in a US State you would bet odds on that that is where the impetus for such a law came from. Not entirely convinced that the UK is free of such impeti either.
I\’ve not got time for this today but a useful trawl might be made for any of these companies making political donations over at the Electoral Commission site.
Impetus is a fourth declension noun, Tim, so the plural is impetus. It’s the benefit of a classical education.
Not talking about the effect of such a law, potentially criminalizing the owner of Yorkshire Terrier who can’t afford, or are not aware of such a law.
It’s unlikely that the owner of already illegal pet would anyway insure them …
This proposal is the equivalent of the Firearms Ban. ‘Something must be done’ about aggressive dogs, whether or not it actually helps the situation.
The result is easy to predict – huge numbers of strays as people get rid of dogs rather than pay the tax, or ‘insurance’ as its called. A continued rise in aggressive dog numbers and incidents involving them, none of whom will be insured. And a rise in prosecutions of otherwise law abiding citizens who have forgotten to pay the insurance premium, or moved house and forgot to tell the insurance company etc etc. PCSOs stoppping dog owners in the street and demanding ‘papieren bitte’. All the usual bureaucratic b*ll*cks.
When will they just leave us alone?
I’m coming rapidly to the conclusion that the answer to that is ‘Never’.
Where’s the opposition to this? Blogs, newspaper columns, interviewees on radio, all making the same points.
But where’s the actual opposition. Where’s iDave’s bunch, gleefully ripping into this proposal and shaking it until bits fall off?