The Rural Affairs and Islands (RAI) Committee met on 5 November to hear evidence from the Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity on the Greyhound Racing Offences (Scotland) Members Bill, put forward by Scottish Greens MSP, Mark Ruskell.
It was a rather combative start to the meeting when the Minister refused to give a clear answer as to why the Scottish Government have changed their position to support the Bill, and no evidence or justification was offered by the Minister for the change in stance. The Minister would only concur that the Scottish Government are now supporting this bill as it is changed from an outright ban on greyhound racing in Scotland, to only banning racing on oval tracks.
A number of MSPs at the evidence session asked whether a licensing scheme would be more proportionate. The Minister noted that a licensing scheme may be discussed in the event of a straight greyhound racing track being opened in Scotland, but licensing on oval tracks would not be considered.
In May 2024, at the RAI Committee evidence session to discuss the petition to ban greyhound racing in Scotland, Mr Fairlie stated:
"At this time the Scottish Government is not persuaded of the need to ban greyhound racing in Scotland. In particular, we are not convinced that such a ban is a proportionate and fair response to the animal welfare concerns arising from the practice.
The statistics for greyhound injuries and deaths relate to those incurred as part of the much larger-scale greyhound racing that takes place in England. We must therefore caution against making assumptions about the current situation in Scotland and legislating to ban a sport, however contentious, without a sound evidence base for doing so.
No complaints have been made to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals about the activities at Thornton stadium and no enforcement action has been taken due to animal welfare concerns against the operators of the venue. Again, I would stress that these factors must be borne in mind when considering the case for the proportionality of a ban in Scotland."
The sole greyhound racing track in Fife, Thornton has not been operating for approximately seven months, meaning no greyhounds are currently racing in Scotland. Therefore, the assumption must be that most greyhounds being kennelled in Scotland travel to England to race.
In a nutshell, Finlay Carson, Convenor of the RAI Committee put it very succinctly:
"It’s currently the animal welfare of no dogs in Scotland will be improved by this bill."
While this Bill aims to improve the welfare of racing greyhounds, in its current form it will not prevent the 27 greyhound breeders and trainers registered with the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) who reside in Scotland from taking their dogs across the border to race on oval tracks in England. As a result, we fail to see how the Bill will effectively deliver higher welfare standards for racing greyhounds without the introduction of a licensing scheme for this activity.
With only one hobbyist greyhound racing track remaining in Scotland - and that track inactive for most of this year - it is difficult to justify devoting valuable parliamentary time and resources to this Bill. Given the limited scale of the issue, the proposal appears wholly disproportionate and risks becoming a wasteful use of public funds that could be better directed toward more pressing welfare and policy priorities.
Read our submitted response for consideration by the RAI committee here.