Policing and Crime Act (2009)
The ECP campaigned against the Policing and Crime Act 2009, because it increased police powers to arrest women on the street and close premises where women were working in relative safety. But it was the clause that criminalised men for paying for sex with a prostitute forced or coerced that got the attention of the media and some politicians who campaigned for it under the false claim of equality ignoring evidence that criminalizing clients undermines sex workers’ safety. The Act was passed at the same time as a Welfare Reform Bill which cut benefits thus making it harder for any woman to refuse or leave prostitution.