The Federation of British Paediatricians called on Wednesday to ban spanking in England and Northern Ireland. The current law is "dangerously vague" because it allows "reasonable" punishment against children.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health is calling on political parties to "make meaningful commitments on this important issue concerning children's rights. " But a member of the Conservative government ruled out any change on Wednesday morning, saying that the current law in England is "very clear" and "it is up to parents to discipline their children. The law can even add complexity to identifying cases of child abuse, says pediatrician Andrew Rowland, who says he is "regularly" in the situation where physical violence has been committed against a child but has difficulty explaining the rules to parents due to the ambiguity of the law. Scotland and Wales have respectively banned spanking in their territories in 2019 and 2022.