THE FIRST Minister has said UK Government should “get on with it” when questioned about banning a dangerous dog breed.

Earlier today (September 11) Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford spoke at a press conference as the Senedd begins a new term.

Mr Drakeford spoke on many topics including that of dangerous dogs - specifically the American Bully XL breed – on the weekend footage online showed an 11-year-old girl in Birmingham being attacked by a dog of this breed.

An American Bully XL dog was the breed which tragically killed 10-year-old Jack Lis of Caerphilly in 2021 and there have been calls to ban the breed in the UK.

The dog – named Beast which has since been shot and killed by police – mauled Jack outside a house in Caerphilly in November 2021.

The attack was fatal and the owners were sentenced in court – following the sentencing Jack’s mother, Emma Whitfield, said: "More needs to be done regarding the law to prevent these types of owners and to prevent this situation happening again.”

When the topic of potentially banning the American Bully XL breed in the UK was brought up Mr Drakeford urged the UK Government to “get on with it [banning the breed] and as fast as possible” and added that he thinks the UK Government “should have acted already”.

He attended the Police Federation National Bravery Awards in London earlier this year and met the team who had attended the “absolutely awful incident” in Caerphilly; they had been nominated for an award.

“You cannot imagine how awful that [attending the incident] must have been,” said Mr Drakeford.

“We wrote to the UK Government then urging them to strengthen the protections in law against what we had seen.

“The Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991 is non-devolved. It’s in the hands of the UK Government.

“I think they should have acted already and I certainly think they need to act now.”