Women back MSP's Bill to make criminals of vice trade punters

Women back MSP's Bill to make criminals of vice trade punters

- BY PAUL HUTCHEON

A FORMER prostitute has urged Scotland to put up a “not for sale” sign by criminalising people who pay for sex.

Diane Martin endorsed a Bill by Alba MSP Ash Regan which would fine the largely male clients up to £10,000 or hit them with jail sentences.

The proposals would also decriminalise the selling of sex by prostitutes.

Martin told MSPs scrutinising the Bill that she had worked in London at “the supposed highest end of prostitution”.

But she said: “It is no different if you are in a five-star hotel or in an alley.”

She said of her support for the Bill: “We think of ourselves as a progressive country and we need to put the ‘not for sale’ sign out.”