Put to sleep?
Has a humane killer just been applied to the bill to reform the law on dangerous dogs?
The Lib Dem peer Rupert Redesdale's Dog Control Bill was due to have its committee stage debate in the Upper House this afternoon - on the informal understanding that no amendments would be put. But now, I'm told, the Labour peer Lord Grantchester has put down amendments, and may well have put down the bill in the process.
Private members' bills are always fantastically vulnerable to procedural problems - and finding debating time is always a nightmare.
Lord Redesdale (best known for his attempt to exterminate gray squirrels) has made several attempts to replace the provisions of the Dangerous Dogs Act with a system of Dog Control Orders for potentially dangerous canines. Among other things he argues that the costs to the public of his system would be far smaller than the current system, as well as genuinely reducing the number of serious attacks on human beings.
UPDATE: The bill has been dropped from today's Lords debates. I don't yet know whether time will be found for it on some future Friday.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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