Have your say! Is it time for smacking children to be banned for good?

The Government is considering bringing in a ban on smacking children in England. The use of physical violence to discipline a child is already outlawed in Scotland, Wales, and Jersey in the Channel Islands.

Have your say! Should smacking be allowed, in or out of the home? Or should it be left solely to parents to decide how to raise their child? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.

In England and Northern Ireland, it is legal to hit your own child if it can be defended as a "reasonable punishment". Causing actual or grievous bodily harm to the child is illegal under the Children Act of 2004.

The Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has called on ministers to ban hitting children altogether. On Twitter, she wrote: "If we are serious about keeping every child safe, it's time England takes this necessary step. Too many children have been harmed or killed at the hands of the people who should love and care for them most."

The Scottish parliament outlawed corporal punishment in 2020, and the Welsh Government gave children equal protection to adults in 2022. The previous Conservative Government rejected calls for a similar law as recently as last year, but the Department for Education under today's Labour Government confirmed that it is looking at the proposal.

The children's charity NSPCC has long called for an end for violence towards children. A survey it performed two years ago found that over two-thirds of adults thought that it was wrong for parents or carers to physically discipline as child.

NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: “If an adult hits another adult because they don’t approve of how they’re behaving, it’s described as physical assault. But when a parent takes the same action against their child, the law considers it acceptable. This is not right.”

Some politicians have long resisted calls to ban smacking, on the grounds that parents should be able to decide how to raise their children. Former Education minister Nadhim Zahawi rejected a similar call back in 2022, saying that “I’ve got a nine-year-old, and I don’t think I’ve ever smacked her but I think her mother, on occasion, has felt a need for a light smack on the arm, if she’s completely naughty and misbehaving."

Studies generally agree that at best, smacking is ineffective, and at worst can cause long-term issues like poor mental health.

Have your say! Should smacking be allowed, in or out of the home? Or should it be left solely to parents to decide how to raise their child? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.