Prostitution Scotland: Just 25 men a year to be prosecuted under £2.6m Ash Regan proposals
Ash Regan MSP has published proposals to criminalise the buying of sex in Scotland.
Just 25 men a year are predicted to be prosecuted each year under £2.6 million proposals to overhaul prostitution laws in Scotland.
Alba MSP Ash Regan wants to introduce what is known as the Nordic model to Scotland, which would legalise the selling of sex and criminalise the buying of sex.
She launched her Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill last week, and said there is an “epidemic of violence against women” and a national “system of exploitation” which needs to be tackled.
However, campaigners who oppose her proposals dispute her claims of an “epidemic” as her bill predicts as few as 45 new crimes will be recorded annually each year under the Nordic model.
Ms Regan suggests 25 people are likely to be prosecuted each year with “two cases at most” leading to prison sentences under her proposals.
Under the current legislations, an average of 50 charges and 40 convictions are made annually.
National Ugly Mugs, which works with those involved in what they describe as sex work, say those involved already face high levels of violence, stigma and exploitation, but criminalising those who buy sex from them will not remove these harms.
Instead, the group fears it will push the industry underground, making it harder to report abuse and easier to target those already at risk.
They also dispute how much the bill will cost to implement.
In a financial memorandum on her bill, Ms Regan claims it will cost up to £2.6m in its first year to enforce, falling to £2.2m annually thereafter.
However, National Ugly Mugs says the documents contain “a number of mathematical and factual errors” meaning the true cost will actually be much higher.
The group, which supports the full decriminalisation of prostitution, says it will cost closer to £2.7m to train Police Scotland officers to enforce the new law, rather than the £17,000 Ms Regan has quoted.
National Ugly Mugs also disputes Ms Regan’s claims that each case will cost £477 once a person is arrested as it will take six hours to complete - the group says the UK Home Office’s independent policing productivity review from 2024 suggests it takes on average 63 hours to complete a case.
Lynsey Walton, chief executive of National Ugly Mugs, said: “Ash Regan is trying to have it both ways.
“In public she claims that the Nordic model is needed to stop a national epidemic of abuse, but privately she admits that changing the law would lead to only a handful of cases a year - on par with littering.
“As the UK’s national sex worker safety charity, National Ugly Mugs works with police forces across the country to support sex workers during investigations.
“This means we know that Ms Regan’s estimates of police time needed to enforce her proposed legislation are laughably false, just like her ludicrous claims that it cost just 50p an hour to train officers.
“Sex worker groups, alongside non-government organisations like Amnesty and the World Health Organisation, oppose the new law on the grounds that it will make life more difficult and dangerous for sex workers, while costing taxpayers millions of pounds a year to enforce.
“If we truly want to address systemic violence against sex workers, we need full decriminalisation, not another expensive, performative policy that protects no-one.”
Ms Regan has been approached for comment.
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