SEX workers have hit out at Ash Regan’s bid to make it illegal to pay for sex in Scotland.
The Alba MSP is hoping to introduce a bill to the Scottish Parliament which would decriminalise prostitutes soliciting clients – but criminalise clients paying for their services.
This, the so-called “Nordic model”, is contentious. Proponents say it brings down the demand for prostitution and reduces human trafficking while critics say it drives sex work “underground”, putting those involved at increased risk of violence.
Regan has published a consultation document alongside her bill, which puts forward evidence from Sweden and Norway – where the Nordic model was found to have reduced prostitution.
But it has been criticised for failing to include evidence from Northern Ireland, where the model has been adopted.
The province is the only part of the UK to have criminalised buying sex and legalised soliciting prostitution and a review by its Department of Justice in 2019 found the model to have failed.
Officials found there was “no evidence that the offence of purchasing sexual services has produced a downward pressure on the demand for, or supply of, sexual services”.
The report added that the change in the law had “contributed to a climate whereby sex workers feel further marginalised and stigmatised”.
There had also been increases in serious crimes against sex workers, but the report noted it was “not possible to say that the change in the law is responsible for any increase in crime against sex workers” given the change in the law had been accompanied by better methods of reporting crimes and an overall increase in the numbers of sex workers in Northern Ireland.
Claims the Nordic model drives sex work “underground” have however been challenged experts.
Regan’s consultation cites Detective Superintendent Kajsa Wahlberg, Sweden’s national rapporteur on human trafficking, reflecting in 2010 on the impact of the Nordic model in that country after a decade, said it had not meant prostitution had fallen off the radar of the law.
Wahlberg said: “If the buyers can find the women in prostitution – the police can too. The Swedish police regularly search the internet for, and find, information about where prostitution activities take place.”
The sex workers’ group National Ugly Mugs (NUM) – named for lists circulated by prostitutes to warn others against abusive clients – has hit out at Regan’s proposals.
It accused her of failing to “acknowledge the wealth of international evidence showing that the Nordic model only serves to increase violence against sex workers”.
The NUM, which has said it will respond to the consultation before it closes, also pointed to the findings of a recent YouGov poll which found that 47% of Scots felt it should be legal to pay someone to have sex with them versus 32% who thought it should be illegal, with 22% undecided.
Pollsters also found that 50% thought it should be legal for someone to accept payment for sex, while 29% were against and 21% undecided.
NUM chief executive Raven Bowen said: “[Regan's] sham consultation fails to acknowledge the wealth of international evidence showing that the Nordic model only serves to increase violence against sex workers, by eliminating their revenue streams, making them desperate and destitute.”
She added: “The evidence shows that Scots side with charities, researchers and international organisations such as Amnesty International, UN Aids and the World Health Organisation in opposing the Nordic model.
“The Scottish Parliament must now do what Regan has failed to do, and consider the actual evidence showing that the Nordic model would be a disaster for Scottish sex workers, before rejecting this proposed new law.”
An Alba spokesperson said: “In 2014, the Scottish Government and Cosla issued a joint policy statement called Equally Safe, which says that ‘prostitution is violence against women’.
“However, in the 10 years since there has been no attempt to align the laws around prostitution to this policy. Ash Regan’s bill aims to address this.
“Ash Regan has worked with feminist groups and women across Scotland to produce her draft bill. She looks forward to progressing this through parliament.”
The Scottish Government last year published an action plan for tackling violence against women and girls which described prostitution as “a form of gendered violence”.
