Be Reasonable Wales

We opposed the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) Bill, which was passed by the Welsh Parliament in January 2020. The new law came into force on 21st March 2022, making mild parental smacking a criminal offence.

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Stay informed about the smacking ban

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Why we oppose the smacking ban

Good parents will be turned into criminals.

Police and social workers will be flooded with trivial cases leaving them struggling to stop genuine child abuse.

Parents should decide whether to smack their children, not the government.

The current law already protects children from abuse. It needs to be enforced, not changed.

Should parental smacking of children be a criminal offence?

76%say NO
Source: ComRes, 13-25 January 2017

The online poll was conducted by ComRes which interviewed 1019 Welsh adults between 13 and 25 January 2017. Data were weighted to be demographically representative.

More polling info

Mum: 'Why I'm oppposed to banning parental smacking'

Mum: ‘Please don’t criminalise loving parents’

‘Government interference will overload social services’

Be Reasonable – Stop the assault on parenting

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