The education secretary has said Labour will wait and see how a child smacking ban in Wales works before banning “reasonable chastisement” in England.
Despite Sir Keir Starmer in 2022 calling for a smacking ban in Wales to be extended throughout the UK, and concerns raised in the wake of the Sara Sharif murder, Bridget Phillipson said the government has “no plans to legislate” to do so.
But Ms Phillipson told Times Radio she will “always keep under review the evidence as it emerges”.
As leader of the opposition, the PM said the ban on smacking children in Wales was “welcome” and that “I would like to see the rest of the UK step into line here”.
“Welsh Labour have taken a lead here and they’re absolutely right to protect children in the way that they now have,” Sir Keir said.
He added: “What it does is give children the protection that adults already have, and that is the right thing.”
Asked why Labour in government was not now extending the ban, Ms Phillipson said: “What I want to understand is the impact and the effect of the legislation in Wales.
“They will be setting out the first round of a review into the implications and effect of the legislation that they had introduced. I would like to see that, would like to understand it, and to decide then whether it’s necessary to take further measures here in England.”
In England it’s already illegal to hit anyone. However there’s a “reasonable punishment” legal defence that lets parents smack their children under section 58 of the Children Act 2004.
The Children’s Commissioner of England Rachel De Souza called for the law on "reasonable chastisement" to be changed as part of the Child Welfare bill going through parliament.
Calls to implement a smacking ban grew after the brutal murder of Sara Sharif and the conviction of her father and stepmother.
Sara was beaten to death four years after her father Urfan Sharif was awarded custody, despite accusations of abuse against him. Authorities failed to identify Sara was at risk for years before her broken and battered body was discovered at her family home in Woking in August 2023.
Sara was withdrawn from school on 17 April 2023 after teachers reported seeing her with bruises on three occasions. On one occasion, Sara’s teacher asked the schoolgirl about two distinct bruises on her chin and right eye. She was then home-schooled in the months leading up to her death.
Following the verdict, a Downing Street spokesperson said that the government will introduce a new duty on parents to get local authority consent to home-school children if the child is subject to a protection plan.
But Sir Keir is facing calls to go further and ban smacking, while the government has also been urged to introduce a mandatory register of home-schooled children.
The PM said rules on smacking did not have anything to do with Sara Sharif’s death, adding: “This is about violence. It’s about abuse. It’s about making sure that (there are) protecting safeguards for children, particularly those being home-schooled. So that’s where I think the questions are.”
