No excuse for slapping a child will be accepted by the courts henceforth. The law has been changed to clarify a grey area that persisted for 155 years around physical punishment by parents and minders.

Proposals to firm up the law against slapping children will not go far enough without support for parents struggling with discipling and controlling their offspring, the Children’s Rights Alliance has warned.

The ISPCC is urging the Government to introduce a legal ban on slapping children.

PARENTS and guardians who slap their children are breaching their youngsters’ human rights, a hearing in Europe has decided.