Nursery World - MPs may vote over smacking law

A free vote may be allowed in the House of Commons over whether to scrap the legal defence of reasonable chastisement that permits parents to smack their children. At the end of the second reading of the Children Bill in the House of Lords, Baroness Ashton, Sure Start minister, spoke about the defence of 'reasonable chastisement', which has been in place since 1860. She said it was vital that there were 'adequate safeguards' to protect children from violence and abuse, and that the current legal framework provided that protection.

At the end of the second reading of the Children Bill in the House of Lords, Baroness Ashton, Sure Start minister, spoke about the defence of 'reasonable chastisement', which has been in place since 1860. She said it was vital that there were 'adequate safeguards' to protect children from violence and abuse, and that the current legal framework provided that protection.

Baroness Ashton added, 'The kind of punishment that results in injury is clearly not reasonable chastisement and as such is already against the law.' The Government 'was prepared to give careful consideration to any amendments brought forward on that issue', she said. 'We shall want to consider whether they constitute a ban on smacking, which we would not support.

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