Sir Michael Caine and Alan Shearer are among the famous faces calling on the Prime Minister to outlaw smacking in England.
The acting legend and former footballer have joined a campaign urging Sir Keir Starmer to be ‘brave and lead with courage and compassion’ in a letter to be handed to Downing Street today (Tuesday, October 14).
The signatories, including actors Natalie Dormer and Samantha Morton, said that in England children currently have less protection from physical harm than adults as smacking is not completely banned.
An ‘outdated and damaging defence in the law still allows a parent or guardian to argue that it is okay to physically harm their child’, the letter said, adding that smacking has ‘no place in 21st century England’.
The letter, coordinated by the NSPCC and support