Plans to hold meeting in Parliament to discuss his survey

Stuart King, Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Putney, Roehampton & Southfields, took his dangerous dogs campaign to Parliament last week when he met with Government Minister Jonathan Shaw MP to discuss his high profile local campaign.

Earlier this Summer Stuart launched his dangerous dogs campaign following a couple of nasty dog attacks in Putney which took place against a backdrop of growing public concern about the problem.

As well as raising the profile of the problem with the Minister, Stuart backed the strong action taken by Putney’s Safer Neighbourhood Police who have used local information to seize suspected banned breeds and arrest their owners.

Stuart is currently consulting local people on a range of possible options to combat the problem, including microchipping and mandatory minimum sentences for owners of dogs that attack, as well as more dog wardens and after-school lessons to teach children how to properly look after their pets. Over 25,000 surveys are being delivered throughout Putney, Roehampton and Southfields and responses have been flooding back to his campaign centre.

Stuart took a selection of these responses to show the Minister, who welcomed his campaign and agreed to meet later this year to discuss the findings of the survey. Speaking after their meeting Stuart said:

“Politicians need to grasp that the problem here is not the law abiding, dog-loving majority: it’s the tiny minority of owners who either abuse and mistreat their dogs, or own them for the wrong reasons. Almost any dog is likely to attack if it’s gratuitously and continuously mistreated. So instead of the Tory plan to slap a £500 Dog Tax on anyone with a dog they regard as “menacing” we need to come down hard on the small minority who mistreat their pets or are irresponsible when taking them out in public.

August 6, 2008