Yes, a complete stitch up with a rigged agenda - even the stereotypical pic of a posed street walker could be straight out of the Daily Mail not a parliamentary website.
If only we could have a serious debate in this country about our antiquated prostitution laws. But look at the agenda in detail:
It doesn't criminal sanction only falls on pimps and brothel keepers, not prostitites who are doing nothing wrong - except illegal street prostitution when it falls equally on the buyer and seller.
A feminazi agenda - the escorts I see don't recognise it as violence, they see it as a way to make a comfortable living.
The impact you would expect for ill guided legislation aimed at 'fixing' a problem which isn't there in any quantity - absolutely none!- lawyers, judges and policemen don't help anyone quit prostitution, they punish people, look at education, social services and benefit reform to help people quit
- exploiters - ie us - are going to be in a knacker trap
- you might as well piss in the wind, it's called the oldest profession for a reason - you would have to exclude sex and sexual desire from every aspect of our culture and society. Even the most repressive communist regimes which monitored and controlled every aspect of people's lives like the East Germams couldn't stop it
Unless we want to live in s police state which snoops in our bedrooms why not just be sensible and legslize it?
IMO apart from some politicians already having made their minds up for various reasons that they are opposed to prostitution, the problem is in the main the antis have the upper hand and know it as they can spout in public as they wish while many WGs and punters don't wish to do that. It is the case more WGs have stood up in public in recent times though.
In addition governments here of any shade hold a view that what makes a good society is people being in a couple now including gays, who buy or rent a home together, maybe have kids and pay their bills like good citizens. Prostitutes give men another option and that is not seen as a positive thing and that in my view is the main reason I cant see it being legalized anytime soon. Femi-Nazis like Harriet Harridan and Julie Bindel are also on a crusade, they aren't interested in facts unless any facts fit their agenda so will lie if necessary as Harridan did in 2009/10 to get her coercion law through when she said there were 4000 trafficked for sex women here, this has never been proved. In fact Operations Pentameter 1 and 2 didn't find anywhere near 4000, more like 500 and out of those the conviction rate wasn't high. The media generally are shit scared of femi-nazis so let them get away with lying without questioning them as they should.
Prostitution is still largely seen as a dirty thing here and there is little mileage for an MP with ambition of progressing up the greasy pole to speak out in favour of it or even indifferent, its not a voting winning issue and may be a support losing issue dependent on the MPs constituency and local activists.
What the agenda of some antis has been in recent times is to try to link prostitution with trafficking and force, this makes it easier for them to get any laws to criminalise punters through, after all who wants to see women being forced. The fact many WGs say they choose too be WGs isnt seen as relevant as they are actually ALL victims of abuse and ALL punters the abusers. Bollocks of course but this could well work as a tactic. What it wont do is stop prostitution as it cant be stopped and the antis, police and government know this, it would just drive it underground making it less safe for the women they purport to want too help, I assume they view any negative consequences against WGs if punters are criminalized as acceptable collateral damage.
Any law to criminalize all punters would mainly be there as a deterrent, the police haven't the resources and in some areas the will to nick punters punting with Indies, purges would be the best they could muster if the top cops wished to launch them. I imagine it would deter some punters but as red light districts prove the street scene being illegal hasn't stopped all punters. And the street scene and brothels give a good insight into how the police think, both are illegal but allowed to operate in some areas. I could see these two being the subject of more police action against punters as both are the easiest of easy targets to get a nick and it would look as though the police were taking action.