Government rejects calls to make smacking illegal

A demand from the UK's child commissioners for the government to ban smacking has been turned down by the government. The decision to let parents make the final decision comes barely a week after Tony Blair admitted on TV that he had smacked his children.

The commissioners urged the government to introduce a tighter law whereby smacking would be completely banned, calling the change in law a 'fundamental principle'. But the plea was rejected by the Department of Education which said it was up to parents to decide what 'reasonable punishment' consisted of, adding: 'They have to think carefully about the law on assault and make sure that chastisement does not get to that point. If not they will be prosecuted.'

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