A late-night speech yesterday on an amendment in the #DomesticAbuseBill relating to smacking and children. There has been a rather grotesque conflation of 'battery' and 'smacking' - suggesting that every parent who smacks their child is committing a heinous criminal act... (1/4)
Violence and abuse against children is already against the law. Blurring the lines between what is intended to harm and injure and what is intended to discipline out of love is hugely damaging for families and denies the importance of intent and context...(2/4) #DomesticAbuseBill
How does it protect children to undermine parental authority? Parents are better placed to know how to raise their kids than endless lists of NGOs - even if they come waving state-approved best practice checklists about 'how to count to ten'...(3/4) #DomesticAbuseBill
Criminalising parents for disciplining their children will do nothing to stop the rare and awful cases of serious abuse against children. Instead, it would discredit the whole concept and seriousness of the #DomesticAbuseBill to treat smacking as assault. (4/4)
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