Exclusive:Ash Regan's proposed prostitution laws in Scotland unenforceable, warns Crown Office
The Crown Office says police officers will face ‘barriers’ to enforcing the legislation proposed by Ash Regan MSP.
The Crown Office has claimed police officers will not be able to enforce new prostitution laws being considered at Holyrood.
The prosecution service said officers would face “evidential barriers” to the proposed legislation, despite supporting the Bill’s aims to reduce the demand for prostitution.
Alba MSP Ash Regan is hoping to overhaul prostitution laws in Scotland by introducing what is known as the Nordic model. This would decriminalise the selling of sex and make buying sex a criminal offence.
However, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has written to Holyrood’s criminal justice committee, noting the difficulties police officers face in Ireland and Northern Ireland, where the Nordic model has already been introduced.
In its letter, the body said: “COPFS is concerned that the introduction of the proposed new offence will raise expectations there will be more prosecutions of those purchasing sexual acts.
“COPFS notes the relatively low numbers of prosecutions in Ireland and Northern Ireland following the introduction in those jurisdictions of an offence criminalising the buyer.
“COPFS is mindful of the challenges experienced by police and prosecutors in Ireland and Northern Ireland enforcing the legislation from the various published reports which reviewed the legislation, [and] is concerned that police and prosecutors in Scotland will face similar evidential barriers to enforcing the proposed new offence.”
However, COPFS said it agreed with the objectives of Ms Regan’s proposals and recognised prostitution as a form of violence against women and girls.
Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown has also written to the criminal justice committee with her concerns about how the law is policed in Ireland.
She said: “[Ireland’s] justice minister commented that … despite the criminalisation of the purchase of sexual services, demand has not decreased.
“The review also suggested that … as currently drafted, Ireland’s legislation, which criminalises the purchase of sex, is a difficult offence to prove, resulting in a low number of prosecutions relative to the number of incidents investigated, as well as the report stating that demand persists, albeit in less publicly visible and more covert forms, such as through online platforms’.”
National Ugly Mugs, a group campaigning for the full decriminalisation of prostitution in Scotland, said the Crown Office and community safety minister’s concerns echoed its own. The organisation wants to see MSPs vote against Ms Regan’s Bill to introduce the Nordic model.
Lynsey Walton, the group’s chief executive, said: “The minister and the Crown Office have all now rejected Ash Regan’s unrealistic claims that criminalising the purchase of sex will stop exploitation.
“The evidence from Scotland’s own experts, and from other countries, is clear - the Nordic model makes life more dangerous for sex workers by criminalising their clients and driving the sector underground. MSPs must listen to these warnings and focus on real solutions that prioritise sex workers’ safety.”
Ms Regan said there had been “excellent submissions” made to the criminal justice committee about her Bill.
She said: “I particularly welcome COPFS’s recognition that my planned approach to use the established legal process of the ‘reasonable inference test’ for criminalising the purchase of sex is sound, and one with which prosecutors are already familiar.
“In my reply to the minister’s letter, I highlighted this very point, as there does appear to be some confusion in the Government’s reading of my short Bill.”
Ms Regan said her “door remains open to all” and she looked forward to “continued engagement as we take this vital legislation forward”.
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