UK urged to follow Nordic model of criminalising prostitution clients

Britain risks becoming a magnet for prostitutes and sex buyers because its policies on sex work are increasingly out of step with those in the rest of Europe, according to MPs, women's groups and EU officials.

A coalition of MPs, peers and women's groups has warned the government that it is has been wrongfooted by other countries such as France that are pushing through laws to introduce the "Nordic model", where the purchaser but not the seller of sex faces criminal action.

In a move likely to inflame debate around prostitution before a human trafficking bill is published this month, Mary Honeyball, the European parliament rapporteur on gender equality, urged the government to introduce the Nordic model, following France's example. Last week French politicians overwhelmingly voted to clamp down on the market for prostitution, approving a bill that would make it illegal to pay for sex.

But Britain's top police officer in tackling prostitution said such a measure would be impossible to police and sex work activists warn it would put women in the sex trade at greater risk. Selling sex is not illegal in the UK, but certain associated activities - soliciting, kerb crawling and running a brothel are.

A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed there were no plans to review prostitution laws, putting the country at odds with a growing consensus in Europe, according to Honeyball.

"It is clear that there is growing support of framework where the purchasers of sex are criminalised, rather than the people selling sex, not just in Scandinavia, but in France, Northern Ireland and others – while there is a growing disillusionment in places where it has been legalised, such as Germany and Holland," said the Labour MEP. "We need an EU-wide model, otherwise we risk encouraging sex tourism, which I think no government would want to see. If it is not taken seriously then I think we could find Britain becomes a real target."

Europe is shifting its approach on prostitution because of the transformation in the industry in recent years, with many more prostitutes now trafficking victims from overseas. A recent European parliamentary report estimated there were about 880,000 people living in slave-like conditions in Europe, of whom 270,000 were victims of sexual exploitation.

Sweden pioneered the approach of criminalising the user and police say the number of street prostitutes working in the country has fallen by two-thirds, to about 1,000, since the law prosecuting sex buyers was introduced in 1998.

Norway followed suit – as did France last week. Belgium and Ireland are considering moving in the same direction and even the Netherlands, famously permissive and home to the best-known red-light district in Europe, is making a shift to tighten laws around prostitution. Currently prostitution is allowed anywhere unless the municipality restricts it with a licence, but a new proposed law trying to make it past the senate would make it illegal to have a premises for prostitution unless a permit was granted by the local authority - turning the current situation on its head.

Corinne Dettmeijer, the Dutch rapporteur on trafficking, called it a "huge change". She said:

"The Dutch pragmatic model was based on Dutch adult women working freely, now we have seen a shift and the women working don't necessarily have that freedom of choice, quite a lot do not."

The British government is attempting to get to grips with trafficking and modern-day slavery with Theresa May's much-trailed slavery bill, but critics say it ducks the key problem: prostitution. Sources suggest the bill is not a substantial piece of legislation but a first step in bringing together existing slavery laws and introducing an anti-slavery commissioner.

Gavin Shuker, Labour MP and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on prostitution, said: "All the indicators suggest Theresa May's trafficking bill is going to completely ignore prostitution." He noted that two-thirds of people identified under the national referral mechanism, which records trafficking incidents, were victims of sexual exploitation. "This is a piece of legislation with a massive hole in it," he said.

A consultation from the group, due to be published in the new year, found only 2% of respondents – including sex workers, charities, punters and police – considered the law effective and consistent.

"I'm amazed that no one has yet brought forward legal action against this government because current policy on prostitution does so little to live up to our own EU commitment on trafficking," he said. "We have to recognise that prostitution is a deeply exploitative trade that has a massive impact on gender equality. We have to change social attitudes, but in my opinion you can't do that without changing the law."

The security minister, James Brokenshire, said the government was committed to eradicating modern slavery in all forms. "This includes sexual exploitation, which is one of the most common types of abuse identified with trafficking victims in the UK," he said. "We have made combating trafficking central to our Serious and Organised Crime Strategy and a priority for the new National Crime Agency. The introduction of a modern slavery bill, the first of its kind in Europe, will send a strong message, both domestically and internationally, that the UK is determined to put an end to modern slavery."

The British government has already signed up to the 2011 EU anti-trafficking directive, which insists that governments put in place policies to tackle the demand for exploitation. "It is difficult to see how we can tackle the demand for trafficked victims without tackling the demand for prostitutes," said Andrea Matolcsi of Equality Now. "Certainly if we look to Germany and places were prostitution is legal it is hard to see how having mega-brothels and pimping will help reduce demand."

Myria Vassiliadou, the EU anti-trafficking co-ordinator, however, refused to take a didactic approach. "We as a commission say prostitution is different to trafficking but there are links," she said. "The debate is heated and I welcome the discussion, but I am not telling member states the law they should implement. They are obliged to take action to reduce demand, how they do that is not important to me."

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Armitt, the national police lead on prostitution in England and Wales, who takes a pragmatic approach to prostitution in Liverpool, recording any violence against prostitutes as hate crimes, said the introduction of the Nordic model would be hard to police. "I personally think it would be very unhelpful. Instead of street prostitutes operating in quiet areas of the city they might have to operate in dark, unsafe areas," he said. "Also, it might be enforceable at a street level but as far as escorts are concerned it would be virtually unenforceable. If there is sex happening between consenting adults, I am not sure why the police would want to get involved."

Criminalising clients would put sex workers at more risk, said Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes. "Criminalising clients will not stop prostitution and won't stop the criminalisation of women who work as prostitutes. All it will do is make it more difficult for women to protect themselves and stigmatise sex workers even further," she said.