Alba MSP lodges Bill to criminalise the buying of sex in Scotland

A Bill that would criminalise the buying of sex in Scotland while decriminalising those selling sexual services has been lodged at Holyrood.

Alba MSP Ash Regan said her Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill would quash historic convictions and create a statutory right to support for those in and exiting prostitution.

The politician said prostitution was a form of male violence towards women.

Regan, a former SNP minister who is now Alba’s sole MSP, said her proposals were a bold and long-overdue step towards tackling the issue.

Ash Regan’s Bill would decriminalise those selling sexual services (Yui Mok/PA). PA Media

Sex workers who oppose the legislation, which Alba has dubbed the “Unbuyable Bill”, have warned it could be “disastrous” for their safety.

But speaking ahead of its formal introduction at the Scottish Parliament, Ms Regan said it would protect women, while putting the onus of criminality on men.

She said: “Prostitution is not a job like any other, as some lobby groups claim; it is a system of commercial sexual exploitation that targets the vulnerable, is driven by demand and is enabled by silence.

“Commodifying human beings has consequences – it’s time we reframe the shame.

“Today, I am proud to bring commercial sexual exploitation out of the shadows into a debate across Scotland, by formally lodging the Unbuyable Bill in Parliament.

“Unbuyable is the first key step in tackling attitudes that have shamefully normalised inequality of the sexes and underpinned the scourge of male violence against women.”

She said the Bill was “forged” by those who had “survived the system of exploitation” as she vowed to work with other parties to get it through Holyrood.

She went on: “It recognises what so many are afraid to say: that buying sexual access to a human being is a form of male violence.

The Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill was formerly lodged at Holyrood on Tuesday (Jane Barlow/PA). PA Media

“We must reframe shame. It does not belong to exploited women and men – it belongs to the men who buy them.”

Regan said Bill aligns with the Nordic strategy on sex work – adopted by countries including Sweden, Norway, France, and Ireland – and would mark a departure from the “failed approach of decriminalising the sex trade, without addressing the root cause and consequences of commodifying human beings: demand”.

She added: “On-street prostitution has been criminalised for 17 years in Scotland yet none of the pimp lobby’s predictions have materialised, few convictions of buyers have been made in over the last ten years and critically the demand has not diminished – it has just moved off street.

“Scotland faces a choice. Do we continue with piecemeal initiatives to reduce harm from visible prostitution, with fragile support funding for those exploited, or will we confront the injustice of commercial sexual exploitation head on?”

The Scotland for Decrim campaign, set up to oppose Regan’s proposals, said it “absolutely rejects Ash Regan’s attempts to bring in the Nordic Model on sex work in Scotland”.

Sex workers have “experienced more violence from clients and the police” in countries where this system is in place, the spokesperson added.

The group, which described itself as a sex worker-led coalition, went on to state that “this offensive Bill will endanger sex workers by exposing us to more violence, poverty, and exploitation”.

The spokesperson said: “Criminalising clients does not solve the reasons why people go into sex work: because of financial need, caring responsibilities, disability, or simply preferring this work to other kinds of work.

“Sex workers are the experts on our own needs. We know that only full decriminalisation will protect our safety, health, and human rights, giving us the power to choose when and how we work.

“This Nordic Model Bill would be disastrous for sex workers’ safety, as we have seen in other countries where this model has been implemented and sex workers have experienced more violence from clients and the police.

“Sex workers don’t want this, the Scottish public doesn’t want this, and politicians from a range of parties oppose this dangerous Bill.”