MP: Smacking Law Partly To Blame For Riots

A Labour MP has called for a change in the law so working-class parents can smack their children without fear of being prosecuted.

David Lammy , the MP for Tottenham, claims Labour's decision to tighten up the smacking law was partly to blame for last summer's riots in his constituency.

The former education minister said: "Many of my constituents came up to me after the riots and blamed the Labour government, saying, 'You guys stopped us being able to smack our children.'

"I have to say when this was first raised with me I was pretty disparaging. But I started to listen.

"These parents are scared to smack their children and paranoid that social workers will get involved and take their children away."

Mr Lammy, who admitted smacking his young sons, said working-class parents should be able to physically discipline their children to stop them joining gangs and getting involved in knife crime.

Following The Children Act of 2004 , mothers and fathers can only smack their offspring if it does not result in "reddening of the skin".

Previously they could use "reasonable chastisement" with a judge deciding if they had over-stepped the mark, but since 2004 the decision has been left to social workers.

Mr Lammy said a lot of parents in his north London constituency are confused about the law and are reluctant to physically discipline their children in case social workers get involved.

He added: "The law used to allow 'reasonable chastisement' but current legislation stops actions that lead to a reddening of the skin - which for a lot of my non-white residents isn't really an issue."

Mr Lammy argued parents in areas like Tottenham had to raise their children "with knives, gangs and the dangers of violent crime just outside the window".

But he said they "no longer feel sovereign in their own homes" because of the changes in the law.

"The ability to exercise their own judgment in relation to discipline and reasonable chastisement has been taken away," he added.

:: Mr Lammy has set out his support changing the smacking laws in his book Out Of The Ashes: After The Riots.