There is something faintly bizarre about the notion that a parent from Wales could legally chastise their child with a slap on the knuckles on a day trip to Chester while facing the full force of the law for the same ‘offence’ back home on Deeside.
Equally how would Welsh justice pursue the dad from Dudley who chooses to physically rebuke his toddler for defiantly running into a busy road in Aberystwyth?
Setting aside the pro and con smacking arguments for a moment, this state of affairs seems to be what would be achieved by opposite views on parental corporal punishment either side of Offa’s Dyke.
The Assembly is in the process of applying to Westminster for the right to pass its own laws to protect vulnerable children.
It is not yet clear if a legislative competence order (LCO) proposed by the Assembly Government would allow the Assembly to outlaw smacking.
But as education minister Jane Hutt said: “As the Assembly Government’s response to the consultation made clear, we remain opposed to corporal punishment.”
The UK Government ruled out a complete ban on smacking after a review found parents opposed the idea.
UK children’s minister Kevin Brennan, Cardiff West MP, concluded while many parents said they do not smack, most said it should not be banned outright.
The federal system in the United States has long produced vagaries in laws from one state to the next.
Is this where the United Kingdom is now heading?
The devolution debate has long been confined to the chattering classes but it could yet be on the cusp of invading the popular consciousness once more.
Plaid Cymru’s political deal with Labour to help run the Assembly Government includes the aspiration to win a referendum on a full law-making parliament in Wales by 2011.
With the SNP in government in Scotland, the Conservatives are already proposing that the Scots, Welsh and Northern Ireland MPs be excluded from voting on ‘English-only’ legislation at Westminster, concerning health, education and other devolved matters.
When a special Labour conference overwhelmingly endorsed the ‘One Wales’ accord with Plaid, it was against the rumbling sound of a seismic shift in political power within the party from Westminster to Wales.
Welsh Labour MPs, so used to holding the sway, were effectively side-lined in opposition to a deal which included the commitment to a referendum.
Now Welsh secretary Peter Hain declares that a political consensus behind giving the Assembly full law-making powers is unlikely to emerge in the next four years and any referendum to turn the Assembly into a Scottish-style parliament would be lost.
His reaction was swift to the appointment of Sir Emyr Jones Parry, the UK’s former ambassador to the UN, to head a constitutional convention in Wales to test public opinion.
Mr Hain said some might be entitled to feel that his appointment came “out of the blue”.
Plaid, of course, is seeking reassurances from Rhodri Morgan that their deal remain in tact.
Was Mr Hain simply attempting to boost his stock among devo-sceptic MPs, or planning a road block against the policies of the Assembly Government?
And the chances of a Wales ban on smacking?
“This has come out of nowhere,” the Welsh secretary said. “We (Welsh Labour) don’t have a policy on this.”
That’s that then, settled for a generation, like the devolution question.
