Prostitution law proposals 'a step back'

Published on Tuesday 26 August 2008 10:34

LOTHIANS MSP Margo MacDonald has warned against a bid to tackle prostitution by outlawing the buying of sex.

She claimed such a move would fail in its objective and could set back the effort to help women quit the trade.

Council and police chiefs in Glasgow are said to be preparing to lobby the Scottish Parliament to adopt the Swedish model of dealing with prostitution – criminalising the purchase of sex, while decriminalising its sale – to make clear prostitution should be regarded as an aspect of male violence against women.

But Ms MacDonald said it would be a mistake to pass such a law.

She claimed the Swedish approach had failed because it had driven prostitution underground so no-one knew what was going on and now the women had returned to the street.

She said: "If the objective is to eliminate prostitution, and that's what they say it is, this will fail.

"In failing to achieve its objective it will probably take us back beyond the point we had reached where you knew you had some point of contact with the women, so that as and when they were ready to exit prostitution you were there to help them.

"And it will make the whole scene more open to criminality and more open to exploitation."