The Westminster Government has no plans to criminalise parents who give their child “a light smack”, Nadhim Zahawi has said. In an interview with Times Radio, Zahawi dismissed the call by Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza for a smacking ban in England. Reasonable chastisementA spokesman for the pro-parent group Be Reasonable said: “Parents across England will welcome the Education Secretary’s common sense response to calls to criminalise a mild smack on the bum. But we’ve seen enough already to know that criminalising parents for tapping a tot on the back of the legs is a terrible idea. You may not agree with smacking but would you criminalise parents who do?” He added: “Westminster needs to stick to its guns and not be manipulated into criminalising decent parents.”

Source: The Times April 21, 2022 15:20 UTC