My position on this Bill has not changed since the last time it was discussed in this Chamber, when I shared my own experience of abuse as a child and as a young adult. To start with, I think it would be worth you showing this Chamber and, more to the point, the public what you really mean by a 'smack'. There is a massive spectrum between a tap on the hand and a punch in the face, and I should know that. So, can you please demonstrate what you actually deem to be a 'smack' as prohibited by this so-called smacking ban? 

That said, in this wider debate, I think it's natural, when thinking about removing a defence, and about courts and criminality, to immediately picture the more extreme types of violence that produce injuries like bruises and black eyes. But that is not what we are talking about here, is it, as that is abuse. To my mind, this Bill represents a disproportionate interference in family life by the state, and I cannot support that level of interference. It could lead to loving parents being prosecuted for using a mild smack. This would not be in the interests of the children, this would not be in the interests of the parents, and not in the interests of the professionals having to police this. I recall a recent exchange about outcomes for looked-after children, where your Government is quite rightly encouraging preventative measures to ensure fewer children becoming looked after. I mentioned then the call on social services staff, the same staff who will be dealing with their legacy reactive cases, their new preventative cases and these new smacking cases. Parents who use light physical discipline with their children are not seeking to hurt them, and the evidence does not show that a light tap does anything to harm a child whatsoever. In fact, in some situations it can communicate danger to a child in a way that verbal reasoning cannot.

It is wrong for this Welsh Government to criminalise parents who choose to discipline their children in this way. This is a classic example of out-of-reach politicians imposing their own views on parenting on the general public. If this Bill becomes law, professionals will have to go after hundreds of parents who smack, instead of dedicating their time to tackling actual child abuse. You have estimated that 548 parents a year would be caught under a smacking ban. That's a huge additional workload for front-line professionals. Distracting police officers and social workers with these cases will mean that children who are in the same awful situation that I was years ago might actually slip through the net. I don't want to take that risk.

Investigating families over smacking will also be traumatic for children. The children's committee heard evidence that children could be removed from their families during a smacking investigation. Really? Can you confirm, where there is more than one child in a family in these circumstances, whether all the children would be removed? Police groups go on to say that the emotional impact of the removal of a parent from a family setting on a child should not be underestimated, and I fully agree with that. Lynne Neagle, as Chair, you stated yourself that most adults surveyed do not want this law, but, as usual, the Welsh Government will go ahead and do it anyway.

Presiding Officer, it is child abusers who need to feel the full weight of the law, not loving parents who use a light smack. While we do not advocate physical chastisement in any form, the Brexit Party group does advocate the right of parents to bring up their children as they see fit, within the confines of the law and protections already in place. So, we will not be supporting this Bill.