Bid to make buying sex illegal fails as MSPs vote down controversial Bill

Holyrood rejected by 64 votes to 54 a Bill from Independent MSP Ash Regan which aimed to criminalise the purchase of sex by introducing fines of up to £10,000 and even jail sentences for those convicted of using prostitutes.

The Bill would also have decriminalised those working in prostitution, pardoned those who have been convicted for soliciting, and offered support to those looking to exit.

Speaking to LBC after the vote Ms Regan said: "I think the public will likely be wondering what this parliament is for if it can't protect vulnerable women and girls, if it can't protect grooming victims, if it can't protect girls in care, sexual abuse victims, trafficking victims, if it can't be bothered to legislate for that, but it can be bothered to do three bills on dogs, on gravel ... it seems to me you would be better off in Scotland being a dog than being a girl."

Asked if she thought it could become an election issue this May, she said: "I think it will be - the public are increasingly sick to the back teeth of corruption, power and sexual exploitation. We have the Epstein scandal unfolding, the public are aware of the grooming gang scandals, they want politicians to do something about it and this Bill was one way of holding exploiters to account."

During the debate community safety minister Siobhian Brown, said that "regretfully" she could not support the legislation - pointing to concerns that have been raised at Holyrood that it will force prostitution underground, putting those in prostutition in further danger.

Ms Regan said her Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, known as the "Unbuyable Bill", "recognises prostitution for what it is - a system of exploitation and violence sustained by demand".

She stated: "It decriminalises those who are sold, recognising them as people constrained by vulnerability, and not offenders. And it places criminality and accountability where it has never properly sat in Scots law - with those who buy sexual access and those who profit from the sale of sexual access to human beings.

"This is not radical, this is closing a gap in the law that has existed for nearly 20 years."

However, the Scottish Government insisted there is insufficient time ahead of May's Holyrood elections to make changes to the Bill ministers believe are needed to make it workable.

Ms Brown said the Scottish Government "strongly supports the principle of criminalising those who purchase sex" but she added it was "necessary to have a workable, effective Bill, that can command the confidence of Parliament".

The minister praised Ms Regan for "bringing prostitution to the top of the political agenda", as she promised officials would start work "immediately" on a new commission, which will look at options for legislation which can then be taken up by the next government.

Reacting to the idea of a commission, Ms Regan told LBC: "If the government wanted to pass this law they had 19 years to do it. I think this sends a message from the government that they don't care about girls groomed into prostitution and exploiters can get away with it, what message is that sending to the girls and women of Scotland?

"At least, from the organisations who work with survivors, they've told me that going through this process has given them a voice, in a way they haven't had in a long time, and so they have made contact with services they haven't before, and they want to make change, so I doubt this is the last time the Scottish Parliament has heard of this issue."

Speaking in favour of the legislation, SNP MSP Michelle Thomson urged party colleagues to "choose courage over complacency" and back the legislation.

Fellow SNP MSP Ruth Maguire, meanwhile, urged them to "vote with their conscience", telling her colleagues: "It's the public, not the Government or whips who elect you to this place, and the public will value courage over unquestioning compliance."

Former SNP stalwart Fergus Ewing - who now sits as an Independent after announcing plans to run against the party last year - said MSPs were "not doing justice to ourselves".

He added: "But far worse than that, we are allowing the continuance of the most vile, abhorrent abuse of women that is imaginable and it's happening as we speak all over the country."

Scottish Conservatives and Labour MSPs also voted in favour of Ms Regan's Bill.

But Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman said she would not support it, voicing concerns that criminalising those who use prostitutes "means only those who are willing to break the law will seek out services".

Ms Chapman said: "Evidence from other countries show that making sex work less visible does not eliminate demand, it merely pushes sex workers further underground increasing their vulnerability to violence and abuse."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton also expressed he would not be supporting the Bill, saying it was a "complex policy area".