Thrown out: the smacking ban now backed by SNP

A FORMER deputy First Minister claimed Scotland was a ‘violent country’ as he launched the first bid to ban the smacking of children in 2002, newly released Cabinet papers have revealed.

Jim Wallace sought to ban the right of parents to use physical punishment to admonish youngsters aged three and under, claiming it was necessary to ‘break the cycle’ of violence for which the country had become known.

The Liberal Democrat minister attempted to force through legislation despite fears raised by backbench MSPs and a parliamentary commission that ‘otherwise good parents’ could be prosecuted for ‘trivial smacks’.

The release of the papers today comes as SNP ministers look to renew a bid to outlaw smacking in Scotland, putting a law in place by the end of this year.

In 2002, Justice Minister Mr Wallace told Cabinet colleagues: ‘We should remember our objectives here: Scotland is by international standards a violent country, and if we want to break that cycle, we make a start with the young.’

His memos to the Cabinet in September 2002 set out options including cutting the then planned age limit of three years to two. Mr Wallace put forward plans to introduce a section in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill which would have made it an offence to smack, hit on the head, shake or use an implement to assault a child aged three and under.

But a memorandum prepared by Mr Wallace in August 2002 revealed only 39 per cent of Scots believed smacking children under three should be illegal, with this rising to 49 per cent when the ban was proposed for two-year-olds.

A previous memorandum noted that it was likely MSPs would be ‘hostile’ to the plans due to fears that this would be ‘oppressive to good parents’ and that they could be ‘liable to investigation and prosecution’.

The Cabinet papers also reveal turmoil within the LabourLib Dem Scottish Executive, with no consensus within the parliamentary groups of either party.

Mr Wallace was then forced into a humiliating U-turn when the justice committee threw out the proposed legislation at stage one.

Now SNP ministers are set to back proposals by the Green MSP John Finnie to introduce an outright ban on smacking in Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon has revealed her personal support for the Bill, despite a poll showing most Scots oppose the ban.

Scottish Conservative education spokesman Liz Smith said the turmoil revealed in the Cabinet papers showed the ‘legal difficulties’ of imposing a ban – and questioned if it would be enforceable.