Regan’s push to Nordic prostitution model deemed ‘disaster for sex workers’

Criminalising the purchase of sex would be a “disaster for Scottish sex workers”, campaigners have said as they criticised Alba MSP Ash Regan’s proposed Bill.

Ms Regan opened a consultation on introducing the so-called Nordic model to Scotland in June, which would make it an offence for someone to buy sex, as well as repealing the offence of soliciting – which would criminalise the prostitute – and wiping previous convictions under the previous law.

But National Ugly Mugs (NUM) – a charity which supports those in sex work – accused the MSP of trying to “sneak through” the consultation by releasing it before the summer recess at Holyrood and “failing to notify affected stakeholders” like itself.

The Alba Holyrood leader has long been a proponent of the Nordic model, having proposed it at an SNP conference when she was a member of the party.

The policy was later adopted by the Scottish Government and taken forward by Ms Regan while she was community safety minister, but no concrete legislative action has been taken.

Raven Bowen, chief executive of NUM, said: “Ash Regan is clearly trying to sneak through this controversial proposed Member’s Bill, by slipping out a consultation just before recess, timed to run over the summer break, and then failing to notify affected stakeholders like NUM, presumably in the hope that they wouldn’t notice.”

Dr Bowen also pointed to a study by the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland looking at the impact of similar changes, which found they “had little effect on the supply of or demand for sexual services” based on the number of advertisements, while a “surge in business” was reported following the new legislation and prostitutes reported “higher levels of anxiety and unease, and increased stigmatisation”.

The report also found there had been “no evidence” of “downward pressure on the demand for, or supply of, sexual services”.

A poll by YouGov for the NUM earlier this year showed 47% Scots support people being able to receive payment for sex, while 32% said it should not be legal.

Of the 1,088 respondents asked between May 13 and 17 this year, 50% said accepting payment for sex should be legal, compared to 29% who oppose it.

Dr Bowen added: “The evidence shows that Scots side with charities, researchers and international organisations such as Amnesty International, UN Aids and the World Health Organisation in opposing the Nordic model.

“The Scottish Parliament must now do what Regan has failed to do and consider the actual evidence showing that the Nordic model would be a disaster for Scottish sex workers, before rejecting this proposed new law.”

In her foreword to the consultation document, Ms Regan said: “Some argue that involvement in prostitution is a free choice that must be accepted.

“The truth is that for most of the women prostitution is not a choice but a response to dire circumstances – they sell sex to survive.

“Poverty is the primary factor driving involvement in Scotland, as it does everywhere else in the world, but we cannot allow prostitution to be the solution to women’s poverty.

“We must not leave impoverished women to a system of exploitation and violence when we should be offering them real choices instead – choices that do not lead to such devastating consequences.”

A spokesperson for the Alba Party said: “In 2014, the Scottish Government and Cosla issued a joint policy statement called Equally Safe, which says that ‘prostitution is violence against women’.

“However, in the 10 years since, there has been no attempt to align the laws around prostitution to this policy. Ash Regan’s Bill aims to address this.

“Ash Regan has worked with feminist groups and women across Scotland to produce her draft Bill. She looks forward to progressing this through Parliament.”