In August 2009, a woman who was working on her own from home in Tyne and Wear was charged with the archaic offences of “running a disorderly house” and “running a bawdy house under common law”. She believed she was targeted by police because she had previously reported a serious racist attack by a neighbour […]
Dear Friends and supporters, We are writing first of all to say how very much we appreciate all the work people did against the prostitution clauses in the Policing & Crime Bill (PCB), and to give you a brief update. Unfortunately, the PCB went through Parliament on 12 November. There was one key victory: the […]
13. Sex WorkThe criminalisation of those who work in the sex industry helps to divide the working class. It separates illegal workers from legal workers and drives people into clandestine situations where they face dangerous and exploitative conditions.Moral panic over trafficking has created a smokescreen behind which the state hasintensified its policing of all migrant […]
Siobhain ButterworthReaders EditorThe Guardian10 November 2009 Dear Siobhain Butterworth We wish to submit a complaint about misinformation reported in the Guardian following Nick Davies’s excellent investigation on figures of women trafficked into the sex industry. 1. Denis MacShane MP claims that the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) “grew out of the Wages for Housework campaign started by […]
SEX WORKERS NEED SAFETY AND RIGHTS, NOT CRIMINALISATIONDemonstration Against the Policing and Crime Bill12-2pm, Tuesday 3 November, Parliament SquareBring placards and red umbrellas and join the demonstration to demand:an end to the criminalisation of sex worksafety and other rights for all workers in the sex industry, including the right to unionisethe right to stay and not […]
A opinion poll released today shows that three in five people would support a change in the law. It is currently legal for a person to work as a prostitute in the UK provided that they work from premises and that they work alone. It has been suggested on the grounds of safety and security […]
We who insist that a distinction be made between trafficking (coercion and rape) and prostitution (consenting sexual services) are charged with siding with pimps and clients against women. How about that for “nasty personal tone”?Yet no one is more concerned with women’s safety than we are. We campaign for decriminalisation so women don’t have to […]
Policing & Crime Bill: Prostitution proposals detrimental to safetyAs measures on prostitution in the Policing and Crime Bill are discussed this week, we respectfully ask Members of the House of Lords to consider our arguments on women’s safety and why we oppose Clauses 16 (loitering), 17 (‘rehabilitation’) and 21 (closure orders), as well as Clause […]
UPDATE 02/11/2012: Denis MacShane resigns over false invoices Denis MacShane pleads guilty to expenses fraud. Ex-Labour minister admits making false claims to fund trips, during court hearing Rajeev Syal The former Labour minister Denis MacShane has admitted filing nearly £13,000 of bogus parliamentary expenses. The ex-MP pleaded guilty on Monday to false accounting by entering fake receipts for […]
The “war” with Denis MacShane on Newsnight was not about statistics but about the policies the statistics were invented to justify. New Labour legislation would increase police powers against both sex workers and clients. Now that the figures have been discredited, MacShane calls them ‘futile’.Paxman was not “hostile”; he was Paxman. But MacShane was confronted […]