Should smacking children be banned across the UK?

A smacking ban in Scotland is likely to be ruled today at Holyrood.

Scotland is to become the first country in the UK to make it a criminal offence for parents to smack their children.

Parents and carers are currently allowed to use “reasonable” physical force to discipline children.

But the Scottish government has backed moves to give children the same protection from assault as adults.

Plans to make smacking a child illegal were backed by five of the seven MSPs on the Equalities and Human Rights Committee at its first stage towards becoming law.

The Bill would remove the defence of justifiable assault in Scots law, which allows parents to use physical punishment on children.

It would be “a watershed moment in Scots law and in changing Scotland’s culture”, according to Committee Convener Ruth Maguire.

She said: “It’s over three decades since all physical punishment was ended in classrooms, and it’s now time to end it at home as well. This law will ensure our children are legally protected from assault in the same way as adults.”

Britain is one of only four countries in Europe where smacking remains a legal way of disciplining children and 57 countries already prohibit the physical punishment of children including France, Sweden, and Ireland.

What are your views? How did you discipline your children? Do you think parents who smack their children should face prosecution? Or do you think it should be up to the discretion of a parent as to how they punish their child? Would you ever intervene if you saw someone smacking their child?