Green MSP’s bid to prevent parents smacking children

PARENTS could be prosecuted for smacking their children under controversial new proposals for a ban.

A public consultation was launched yesterday for a Member’s Bill by Green MSP John Finnie, who said the move would give ‘the most vulnerable people in our society equal protection from assault’.

Mr Finnie said he wanted to remove the legal defence of ‘justifiable assault’, which allows parents to use physical punishment to admonish a child.

The Highlands and Islands MSP said Scotland was ‘out of step’ with the rest of the world on the issue and had been ‘roundly condemned’ by the UN. The proposed smacking ban has the support of organisations including the Church of Scotland, the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents, NSPCC, Children 1st, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner and Barnardo’s.

But opponents argue the change in the law would erode the rights of parents. Free Church of Scotland moderator the Rev David Robertson argued the move was ‘completely unnecessary’. He said: ‘It’s already against the law to hit a child on the head or to hit with an implement or to shake. This is going to criminalise good parents, just for tapping their child on the hand. The whole position is illogical, it’s virtue signalling, it’s middle-class élites criminalising good working-class parents.’

But Mr Finnie said: ‘This isn’t about criminalising anyone. This is about supporting parents and, most importantly, giving the most vulnerable people in our society equal protection from assault.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We have no plans to introduce legislation in the area.’

PrOTeCTING children from harm is a key issue for society but – as we have seen with the SNP’s disastrous Named Person plans – the State must proceed with extreme caution on family legislation.

Now a Green MSP is trying to change the law at holyrood to outlaw smacking and, despite fine words about not criminalising parents, the end result may very well be just that.

Laws to protect children from abuse already exist. Wouldn’t holyrood be better concentrating scarce resources on using those laws to ensure the safety of genuinely at-risk children, rather than troubling competent parents?

And with the parliament devoting a little over ten hours of debate to education and six hours to health, while lavishing more than 45 hours on the constitution, the public will again question MSPs’ priorities.