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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Denis Campbell Health policy editor

Ban smacking children in England and Northern Ireland, say doctors

England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Small boy in school uniform holding a railing and looking sad
Smacking children made them much more likely to suffer poor mental health, do badly at school and be physically assaulted or abused, the college said. Photograph: Mark Waugh/Alamy

Parents in England and Northern Ireland should be banned from smacking their children because doing so is unjust, dangerous and harmful, leading doctors have urged ministers.

It was “a scandal” that Scotland and Wales had outlawed smacking but not the other two home nations, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said on Wednesday.

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