Education Secretary David Blunkett has revealed that he used to smack his children for misbehaving - and said it worked.

Childcare campaigners have hit out at Government plans to continue to allow childminders to smack youngsters and smoke in front of them.

But Mr Blunkett said parents were right to smack in "exceptional circumstances" - and childminders could do the same if parents backed them.

"I probably smacked my children two or three times over the whole of their childhood when I thought it was the only way of getting the message across. It worked at the time," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

Mr Blunkett, who has three adult sons - Alastair, Hugh and Andrew - said the two or three times he had ever used smacking was as a "last resort".

Using it as a regular punishment was not effective, he added.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has confessed to smacking his children in the past but said he always ended up regretting it.

The Government has been attacked for refusing to ban childminders from smacking children and smoking in front of them if parents gave them permission at the same time as banning both in nurseries and playgroups.

Childcare campaigners have branded the decision "illogical and inconsistent" but Mr Blunkett's stance appears to be backed by a majority of parents, who say they should decide how those caring for their children can behave.

A Government poll found eight out ten wanted the choice when it came to smacking and three-quarters believed it should be their decision on smoking.

Stephen Burke, director of national childcare charity Daycare Trust, described the Government's reasoning as "fundamentally flawed" and an attack on children's human rights.

"Children are being treated as second class citizens without the same rights adults take for granted," he added.

The National Childminders' Association said the Government's decision was barmy.

Lynn Daley, chair of NCMA, said: "Registered childminders have not asked for and do not want these so called 'rights' to smack children and babies and to smoke in front of them.

"We feel bitterly disappointed that the Government is signalling that childminders - alone amongst regulated childcare providers - should be allowed by law to offer such poor quality of service.

"Parents are telling us that they don't want their childminder to smack their children - and they also do not want their children to witness other children being smacked."