Scottish government will not support Bill to make paying for sex illegal

The Scottish government have said that they will not support the Prostitution Bill brought by MSP Ash Regan. The bill would introduce the so-called Nordic model, decriminalising the selling of sex, but making buying sex illegal.

Currently, in Scotland, brothel-keeping and “kerb crawling” are illegal, but it is not against the law to pay for sex. The Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, tabled by Ash Regan, would make a new offence of paying for sex or arranging it online, and would repeal existing laws regarding soliciting.

Regan has said that the new law would make “transformative progress in tackling male violence against women and girls”.

The Scottish Parliament are due to vote on the first stage of the Bill on Tuesday, after which it would need to pass two more stages in order to become law. It is expected that some MSPs will rebel against the government and vote for the legislation. However, the Green Party are opposed to the Bill, and without government support it is unlikely to pass.

Victims and Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown wrote in a letter to the Criminal Justice Committee:

“The Scottish government has concluded that whilst we support the fundamental principle of criminalising the purchase of sex, we still retain significant concerns with the provisions as drafted in the bill, and are very aware that there are women in prostitution who have said that this bill as drafted will lead to them being at a higher risk of violence.”

“With only weeks left in this parliamentary term, we do not think there is sufficient time left in this session to be able to amend the bill to properly mitigate that risk as well as make other very necessary changes. Consequently, we are regretfully unable to support it at stage one.”

However, Siobhan Brown said that ministers would table a bill to criminalise paying for sex "as early as possible" in the next parliament if the SNP returns to government following May's election.

Ash Regan commented about the news ahead of Tuesday’s vote, saying: “The vote is about the principles only. On a day when the world is recoiling at the Epstein scandal, the government has chosen to side with the abusers against the victims.”