Respect to Ash Regan for today in the Scottish Parliament.

[ArabellaScott]

'The state has a duty to protect women and girls from sexual exploitation by abusive, dangerous men. If it does not act, I am afraid that all members will be complicit in that harm.
As I look around the chamber this evening, I see some MSPs sitting here who know that they should register an interest, but I am sure that they will not, for varying reasons. The vote on the bill is not a conscience vote, but I believe that it should be, as such votes have been for other members’ bills. I also see former colleagues and friends on the benches who I know back the bill and support the principle. I wonder whether they will have the courage to say so with their votes—I hope that they will.
Millicent Fawcett famously said, “Courage calls to courage”. The most courageous people in the Parliament today are the survivors of prostitution. They have called to us all. They have bared their deepest trauma and shame in the hope that we will listen to them and in the hope that we will save the next wee girls who are targeted to have their bodies accessed by entitled, abusive sex buyers. Will you finally heed their call to courage? Will you listen to and act for them? MSPs who hide behind the polished lies that are directly out of the sex trade handbook should be ashamed, frankly.
I want to address the point of harm. The only thing that would be harmed by my bill is the sex trade, and there is no excuse not to apply critical thinking and research to this debate, as other legislatures, even in the UK, have done and have told us about. They are watching this Parliament today.'

https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/recent-publication?meeting=20044&iob=201937

The Bill was voted down at Stage 1, by 64 to 54 votes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqj2n7ylrgyo

'If we fail to pass the bill, we are not protecting women’s safety; we are protecting men’s violence. We are shielding the minority of men who, in their own words, reveal exactly what they believe women to be for. Let us be clear: hiding sex buyers behind claims of women’s safety is not protection; it is exploitation. The silence that the buyers hide behind is not innocence; it is entitlement enforced by power. The Parliament now has to decide who it stands with: the exploited or the exploiter.
...
The bill would enact a law that is backed by Police Scotland, the Crown Office, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls and the Lord Advocate—a law that has been in force in eight countries for more than 26 years—and it reflects the Government’s own strategy. If this is beyond the capability of the Parliament and 128 MSPs, in the two remaining months of a five-year parliamentary session, the public will ask us what we are doing here.'

Indeed. What. The fuck. Are you doing there?

My heart goes out to Ash, Alison, Sam and all those who helped and supported Ash, as well as all the women who have been betrayed by some MSPs. I was there today and Ash was excellent, I’m so sorry she was let down by 10 snakes

I have come to despise the SNP but have to give credit to Michelle Thomson for both defying the SNP whip and for a blistering speech.

Against

Adam, George (Paisley) (SNP)
Adam, Karen (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
Adamson, Clare (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)
Allan, Alasdair (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)
Arthur, Tom (Renfrewshire South) (SNP)
Beattie, Colin (Midlothian North and Musselburgh) (SNP)
Brown, Keith (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP)
Brown, Siobhian (Ayr) (SNP)
Burgess, Ariane (Highlands and Islands) (Green)
Chapman, Maggie (North East Scotland) (Green)
Coffey, Willie (Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley) (SNP)
Cole-Hamilton, Alex (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
Constance, Angela (Almond Valley) (SNP)
Dey, Graeme (Angus South) (SNP)
Don-Innes, Natalie (Renfrewshire North and West) (SNP)
Doris, Bob (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP)
Dornan, James (Glasgow Cathcart) (SNP)
Dunbar, Jackie (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP)
Fairlie, Jim (Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) (SNP)
FitzPatrick, Joe (Dundee City West) (SNP)
Gilruth, Jenny (Mid Fife and Glenrothes) (SNP)
Gougeon, Mairi (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP)
Grahame, Christine (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP)
Gray, Neil (Airdrie and Shotts) (SNP)
Greer, Ross (West Scotland) (Green)
Harper, Emma (South Scotland) (SNP)
Harvie, Patrick (Glasgow) (Green)
Haughey, Clare (Rutherglen) (SNP)
Hepburn, Jamie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP)
Hyslop, Fiona (Linlithgow) (SNP)
Kidd, Bill (Glasgow Anniesland) (SNP)
Lochhead, Richard (Moray) (SNP)
MacDonald, Gordon (Edinburgh Pentlands) (SNP)
MacGregor, Fulton (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)
Mackay, Gillian (Central Scotland) (Green)
Mackay, Rona (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP)
Macpherson, Ben (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (SNP)
Martin, Gillian (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP)
McAllan, Màiri (Clydesdale) (SNP)
McArthur, Liam (Orkney Islands) (LD)
McKee, Ivan (Glasgow Provan) (SNP)
McLennan, Paul (East Lothian) (SNP)
McMillan, Stuart (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP)
McNair, Marie (Clydebank and Milngavie) (SNP)
Minto, Jenni (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
Mountain, Edward (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Nicoll, Audrey (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
Rennie, Willie (North East Fife) (LD)
Robertson, Angus (Edinburgh Central) (SNP)
Robison, Shona (Dundee City East) (SNP)
Roddick, Emma (Highlands and Islands) (SNP)
Ruskell, Mark (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Slater, Lorna (Lothian) (Green)
Somerville, Shirley-Anne (Dunfermline) (SNP)
Stevenson, Collette (East Kilbride) (SNP)
Stewart, Kaukab (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP)
Stewart, Kevin (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
Sturgeon, Nicola (Glasgow Southside) (SNP)
Swinney, John (Perthshire North) (SNP)
Todd, Maree (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP)
Torrance, David (Kirkcaldy) (SNP)
Tweed, Evelyn (Stirling) (SNP)
Yousaf, Humza (Glasgow Pollok) (SNP)

Shame on every one of them.

I see the Real Feminist to her Fingertips voted not to ban prostitution.

shame indeed
they reveal their true colours, if there were any doubt

Instead, the SNP today put their energy into supporting the rights of murderous males to be housed in women's prisons.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgl83ggln40o

'O'Neill added the decision to maintain the policy, despite the Supreme Court ruling last year, was "based on institutional neglect, of and contempt for women's rights."
He continued: "It's almost Orwellian, Animal Farm-like. 'Women good… men identifying as women better'.
"Or, 'all women are equal, but men identifying as women are more equal than others'."

They are all disgusting.

I have so much respect for Ash.

Well, that's another reason not to vote for Gilruth this time round.

I read the BBC news article about this, and I still don't understand why the bill wasn't passed. Are there any "good" / understandable reasons for it not to be passed? What sort of reasons were given by those voting against it? I saw something about it risking driving prostitution further underground, but don't even really understand that?

I mean, it just seems really fucking obvious to criminalise the sex buyers rather than the exploited women! But I'm genuinely open to other points of view that I might not currently understand.

The usual feckin' suspects. The SNP & The Greens. They're infuriatingly dim.

Respect to Ash Regan. A woman of principle. You won't find many of them in the Scottish Parliament unfortunately.

It is truly enraging. All those people who think it's ok for men to exploit women as long as they pay to do it. They are rape supporters.

Would it be unfair to ask how devolution is working out for Scotland?

I've just discovered that Neil Hanvey is standing in my constituency so I have someone I can vote for.

It’s pure spite to not vote for Ash’s bill, because she has integrity and guts

With just 6 exceptions, the SNP seems utterly determined to find as many ways as possible to make itself look skeevy.

*Police Scotland have only said they support the principle, not the specific bill itself. They have also released figures on how much attempting to enforce the bill would cost- it wouldn't be cheap and the money has to come from somewhere. In Sweden money is taken from Social Work budgets.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25818724.police-scotland-say-regan-bill-may-cost-321m-year/?ref=rss

The Crown Office also support the principle but have said the bill would be unenforceable:

https://www.thenational.scot/news/25481086.crown-office-warns-ash-regans-sex-work-bill-unenforceable/

Saying you support the principle just means you agree in a perfect world there would be no prostitution which virtually everyone would agree with. It doesn't mean you specifically agree with a bill to introduce the Nordic Model.

There’s a lot of that about.

In this specific context, it would depend on what Westminster's plans are for introducing the Nordic model.

It's absolute nonsense to say the Bill would have been unenforceable. Plus I'm not sure why that should bother the crown office or Police Scotland; there's already plenty of other stuff they don't even bother trying to enforce. Saying that, it's clear that a change in the law is a key element of culture change. Just like the exclusion of sexism from the hate crime legislation, this sends a clear message that our politicians don't care about women. Men who pay for sex are vile, all of them, in all circumstances, and making it illegal is a really clear way for society to say that loud and clear. Whining about how difficult it would be to deal with all these little pricks is just pathetic.

Right. Silver linings.

1.What was heartening: the vote was far closer than I'd expected. 64:54 shows that nearly half the MSPs were willing to consider a bill for the Nordic Model.

2.Several SNP MSPs defied the whip. That is brave and admirable.

3.The issue has been raised and sunlight has been shed.

In the end the vote was down to petty politicking and an SNP whip, rather than conscience. If Scotland wasn't encumbered with an administration that is so brittle and lacking in imagination and confidence, it may well have carried.

Ash Regan has proved herself again to be a politician of substance and conviction, and just because one Bill is down it doesnt mean the issue is going away.

There are plenty of unenforceable laws, holding your mobile phone in your hand while driving is one of them but it's still a law. Thing about laws is, most people follow them.
A quick Google shows a story from 6 years ago saying that prostitutes are 4 times more likely than kerb crawling men to be arrested (in Lancashire but I'm sure it extrapolates).
I'm shocked I tell you, shocked.
Bloody shower of misogynistic twats who no doubt think prostitution is "empowering".

Yes, very true @ArabellaScott It was closer than I expected too.

I noticed that Sturgeon voted against the bill , no surprise there, interesting to see Dame Jackie Bailie, deputy leader of Labour didn’t vote …could that be because her daughter is active in the De Crim movement I wonder….?