WUNRN
September 22 2008
UK to Tighten Laws & Plan
Against Prostitution
Nicholas Watt, Chief Political
Correspondent
Kerb-crawling and soliciting for prostitutes on the streets are to be outlawed as part of a wide-ranging tightening of the law, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, annnounced yesterday.
Warning of the "blight" of prostitution, Smith outlined a three-point plan at the Labour conference that will:
· Remove the requirement that only persistent kerb crawlers and men who solicit on the street can be prosecuted. An alternative requirement for kerb-crawlers - that they act "in a manner that is likely to cause annoyance to people in the neighbourhood" - is also to be removed. The changes will mean that kerb-crawlers and men soliciting sex on the street can be prosecuted after a first offence.
· Give new powers to councils and the police to close down brothels for at least three months if prostitutes are being run by a pimp or have been trafficked. At the moment, police can only close brothels if there is anti-social behaviour and if Class-A drugs are involved.
· Change the law so that men can be prosecuted if they pay for sex with women who are exploited - "controlled for another person's gain", as Smith said. Currently, police can only pursue a prosecution if they can prove that the women did not consent to sex, which means they have to compile evidence of rape.
The home secretary also announced that communities will be given more say in lap-dancing clubs opening in their areas. Smith criticised the Tories for sending delegates to their conference in Birmingham next week a £10 voucher to visit such a club. "I want to know what the Tories have to say for themselves," she said.
Smith announced the new measures on prostitution after a six-month government review into prostitution that focused on how Sweden and the Netherlands deal with the problem.
"We will do more to tackle the blight of street prostitution," Smith told the Labour conference in Manchester. "At the moment only persistent kerb-crawling is outlawed. In my book, once around the block is once too many - and so we'll make kerb-crawling punishable as a first offence."
The government will also toughen the law to prosecute men who pay for sex with women who are run by a pimp or who have been trafficked. Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader who is also equality minister, said: "We must protect women from being victims of human trafficking - the modern slave trade. The trade only exists because men buy sex, so to protect women we must stop men buying sex from the victims of human trafficking."
Labour focused the first full day of its conference on crime and the law. Jack Straw, the justice secretary, announced a crackdown on "no win, no fee" lawyers, who have ramped up their fees in recent years, and on legal aid solicitors.
"I am concerned about 'no win, no fee' arrangements," Straw said. "It's claimed they have provided greater access to justice but the behaviour of some lawyers in ramping up their fees in these cases is nothing short of scandalous."
Turning his attention to legal aid lawyers - more money is spent on legal aid in England and Wales than anywhere else in the world - Straw said: "There are now three times as many lawyers in private practice but paid for by the taxpayer as there were three decades ago; the budget has grown faster than the health and education services.
"The challenge now is how better to spend these huge sums in the interests of justice; something I want to do with the legal profession and local government."
Straw's crackdown on lawyers is part of a campaign to open up the justice system as he strives to lift the "veil" on justice. "It's about a change of culture, of attitude, about lifting the veil which sometimes keeps justice from view," he said.
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