Regan ‘pleads’ with former SNP colleagues to back her Bill on prostitution

Independent MSP Ash Regan is pleading with former MSP colleagues in the SNP to back her bid to impose fines of up to £10,000 and even jail sentences on those who buy sex from prostitutes.

Ms Regan has brought forward a member’s Bill at Holyrood that aims to both criminalise the buying of sex and decriminalise those who sell it.

With the legislation facing a key vote on Tuesday, the Scottish Government has confirmed it will not support the legislation.

Community safety minister Siobhian Brown explained while ministers agreed with the principle that “men should not be able to purchase sex”, women involved in prostitution had raised concerns the changes would leave them “at a higher risk of violence”.

With just weeks left before the Scottish Parliament breaks up ahead of the May election, the minister added that she did not believe there was sufficient time to change the legislation to mitigate that risk, saying “regretfully” the Government is unable to support the Bill.

Despite that, Ms Regan hopes a number of SNP MSPs will rebel – with former minister Annabelle Ewing and SNP MSPs Ruth Maguire and Michelle Thomson having publicly declared they will vote for the legislation.

The Scottish Conservatives and Labour MSPs will also vote for Ms Regan’s Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill – although the Scottish Greens have made clear they oppose what they described as an “exceptionally-flawed Bill”.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday-evening’s vote, Green MSP Maggie Chapman said: “If our Parliament supports this Bill it will be putting sex workers at greater risk of violence and poverty.

“The kind of model that Ash Regan is proposing has been tried many times before and it has failed. That is why it has been condemned and opposed by the World Health Organisation and human rights campaign groups, and, most importantly, by sex workers themselves.”

Speaking about Ms Regan’s Bill, the Green insisted it would “only create more exploitation by driving the industry even further underground”.

Ms Chapman continued: “It wouldn’t do anything to stop trafficking or coercion and would only make sex workers themselves more insecure.”

Ms Regan argued that “the public have made it clear that they back tougher prostitution laws that will tackle the exploitation of women”.

The former Scottish Government minister stated: “The public will be watching and expecting that their Parliament backs the principle that women’s bodies are not for sale and that women who have been exploited into prostitution should be supported.

“These are principles I know that SNP MSPs agree with as the Bill I am proposing is SNP policy.”

Ms Regan said if her Bill is to pass “it will be because SNP MSPs have joined other parties that agree that prostitution is a form of violence against women”.

She added: “If it fails it will be because SNP MSPs have joined the Scottish Greens to vote for the continued exploitation of women’s bodies. I plead with them to do the former as the Scottish public will not accept the latter.”

National Ugly Mugs, an organisation which supports prostitutes, urged Holyrood to reject Ms Regan’s Bill.

In a briefing for MSPs, it said: “Criminalising clients does not remove these vulnerable individuals’ need for money to survive and this Bill does not offer them replacement income.

“It would make life more difficult and dangerous for them, by making it harder to earn money, and by forcing transactions underground, out of sight of the authorities.”