Important:

This petition was submitted during the 2017-2019 parliament

Petition Affirm that a ban on smacking children will not be enacted in England

The Scottish Parliament is in the process of introducing a ban on parents smacking their children.

This could influence Parliament to introduce a nationwide ban.

Parliament must affirm that it will not restrict parents' rights to decide how to raise their children.

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Assaulting your child is already illegal. A ban on smacking will not prevent bad parents beating their children, it will merely criminalise good parents trying to discipline their kids.

It would also open the floodgates: will sending a child to their room be false imprisonment? Will taking away their toy be theft?

Children need discipline and it is for parents, not the State, to decide how to do it. A ban would be unacceptable interference in parents' rights to a family life.

This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months

27 signatures

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10,000 signatures required to get a government response