GBGB is unsuccessful in judicial challenge to forthcoming ban

THE GBGB "is exploring every option available" following the failure of its attempt to have a Welsh High Court Judicial Review intervene to block the Bill passed in the Senedd this week which will ban greyhound racing in the country sometime between April 2027 and the April 2030.

GBGB chief executive Mark Bird also expressed hope that "the next Government in Cardiff Bay do the right thing and repeal this flawed legislation" with Senedd elections due in May.

Having initially granted permission for the GBGB challenge, which centred on the lack of consultation, on legal grounds, Lord Justices Lewis and Chamberlain wrote in their summing-up: "In our judgment, the Welsh Ministers . . . had no legal obligation to consult the public, or any section of the public, before the Bill was introduced into in the Senedd on 29 September 2025. Insofar as it seeks to challenge that decision, the claim therefore fails."

Bird said: “This judgement appears to come down to arguments of a purely academic nature.

"But what remains clear from the evidence presented is just how many questions remain about ethical and legislative standards, which fall far short of what we should expect of our lawmakers in this case.

“Ministers went against officials’ advice, which told them they did not have sufficient evidence or consultation to justify a ban.

"Ministers likewise ignored their own colleagues when two cross-party Committees slammed the process, with a whipped vote to push it through the Senedd.

“This Bill process was an unmerited attack on a welfare-driven, well-regulated sport in Wales and will only destroy family-run businesses and desperately needed jobs in service of animal rights activists.

“It is particularly galling that this bad legislative process will impact so negatively on an amazing community around the Valley Stadium, its hardworking staff under the leadership of Katie Bennison and the Barclay family, and all of those for whom it has become a much-loved and welcome addition to the local community but which will now be taken from them against official advice and common sense.

 “GBGB is exploring every option available to us to continue to fight this legislation, including our right to Appeal, and hope at the very least that the next Government in Cardiff Bay do the right thing and repeal this flawed legislation.”