Government strikes a compromise on smacking law

Peers voted to allow parents to lightly smack their children and
rejected an outright ban in the House of Lords yesterday,
writes Amy Taylor.

The passed amendment to the Children Bill allows parents to
administer smacking as a reasonable punishment as long as it does
not cause “actual bodily harm”.

“There is a need to strengthen legal protection for children
whose parents are violent towards them, but I do not believe that
parents should be criminalised for administering a light
disciplinary smack because it is technically a battery,” said
Lord Lester of Herne Hill who tabled the amendment.

The Government had said that it would not support a ban on smacking
arguing that the kind of punishment that causes injury was clearly
not “reasonable chastisement” and therefore already
against the law.