Bill to criminalise those who use sex workers defeated at Holyrood

A bid criminalise those who buy sex has been defeated at Holyrood – despite a minister insisting the Scottish Government “strongly supports” such a move.

Community safety minister Siobhian Brown, however, said that “regretfully” she could not support the legislation – pointing to concerns that have been raised at Holyrood that it will force prostitution underground, putting sex workers further in danger.

She spoke out as Holyrood rejected by 54 votes to 64 a Bill from Independent MSP Ash Regan which aimed to introduce fines of up to £10,000 and even jail sentences for those convicted of using sex workers.

The vote saw six SNP MSPs vote for the Bill – with Ms Regan saying afterwards that the Parliament had chosen “cowardice over action”.

The former Scottish Government minister insisted: “Inaction is not neutral. It is a decision, and it has consequences.

“Those who voted against criminalising the perpetrators of violence against women, which the Government’s own policy names prostitution as, have a stain on their parliamentary voting record.”

Her Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill had also set out to decriminalise those who sell sex.

Ms Regan said her so-called “Unbuyable Bill” “recognises prostitution for what it is – a system of exploitation and violence sustained by demand”.

She stated: “It decriminalises those who are sold, recognising them as people constrained by vulnerability, and not offenders.

“And it places criminality and accountability where it has never properly sat in Scots law – with those who buy sexual access and those who profit from the sale of sexual access to human beings.”

The Independent MSP said: “This is not radical, this is closing a gap in the law that has existed for nearly 20 years.”

However, the Scottish Government insisted there is insufficient time ahead of May’s Holyrood elections to make changes to the Bill ministers believe are needed.

Ms Brown said the Scottish Government “strongly supports the principle of criminalising those who purchase sex” but she added it was “necessary to have a workable, effective Bill, that can command the confidence of Parliament”.

The minister praised Ms Regan for “bringing prostitution to the top of the political agenda”, as she promised officials would start work “immediately” on a new commission, which will look at options for legislation which can then be taken up by the next government.

But Ms Regan said there had already been a “dozen consultations” on the issue since 2002 along with “multiple expert groups”.

“What is a commission going to tell us that two decades of evidence have not already shown us?” she asked.

“Every delay tells men that they can keep doing what they are doing, and that these women, their lives don’t matter.”

Ms Regan insisted: “This Bill is not out of time, it is overdue.

“Exploitation is not going to wait for more reviews or consultation, or more strategies from the Government.

“People did not send us to this chamber to observe the harms that are going on out there, they sent us here to act, to do something about it.”

Speaking in favour of the legislation, SNP MSP Michelle Thomson urged party colleagues to “choose courage over complacency” and back the legislation.

Fellow SNP MSP Ruth Maguire, meanwhile, urged them to “vote with their conscience”, telling her colleagues: “It’s the public, not the Government or whips who elect you to this place, and the public will value courage over unquestioning compliance.”

Former SNP stalwart Fergus Ewing – who now sits as an Independent after announcing plans to run against the party last year – said MSPs were “not doing justice to ourselves”.

He added: “But far worse than that, we are allowing the continuance of the most vile, abhorrent abuse of women that is imaginable and it’s happening as we speak all over the country.”

Scottish Conservatives and Labour MSPs also voted in favour of Ms Regan’s Bill.

But Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman said she would not support it, voicing concerns that criminalising those who use prostitutes “means only those who are willing to break the law will seek out services”.

Ms Chapman said: “Evidence from other countries show that making sex work less visible does not eliminate demand, it merely pushes sex workers further underground increasing their vulnerability to violence and abuse.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton also expressed he would not be supporting the Bill, saying it was a “complex policy area”.