A senior MSP has called on the police to crack down on Edinburgh’s sex saunas and put them out of business. Ash Regan, a former SNP Minister, said brothels operating in the Capital amounted to “state-sanctioned pimping.”
She blasted: “My view is it’s completely unacceptable.”
Edinburgh Council responded to rising HIV levels by licensing sex-for-sale saunas and massage parlours in the 1980s. Councillors ended this system of regulation in 2014 after a series of high profile police raids on the establishments.
Sex workers continue to operate in a smaller number of unlicensed saunas, despite brothel keeping being illegal. Regan, who quit the SNP to join Alba, has a member’s bill to criminalise the purchase of sex, reports the Record.
The Edinburgh Eastern MSP said the police should push ahead and try to close the sex saunas in the meantime: “We’ve got a situation where we’ve got brothels - three of them to my understanding - operating in plain sight in Edinburgh, despite the fact that it is an offence to do that.
“This should not be happening in Edinburgh and the police and the council should be taking a more active role.”
“Why are the council turning a blind eye to this? Why are the police turning a blind eye to this in Edinburgh?
She said Police Scotland should “absolutely” close the saunas: “I think a lot of times people think buying sex is like a victimless crime, that it doesn’t really harm anyone, there’s no issue to society. But that could not be further from the truth.
“Sex buying damages lives, sometimes irreparably. It’s not good for society as a whole and we need to start to reframe the way we look at this and reframe the shame that’s involved in it.
“The majority of people who sell sex are female and the shame is always put onto them, that they were doing something wrong, and it was all their fault. Actually, the way that the sex market is being driven, it is being driven by the buyers, it’s not driven by the sellers, so we should put that shame where it belongs onto the sex buyers.
“Many of the people that are involved in the selling of sex are victims of human trafficking. We know that in some of the brothels in Edinburgh there are victims of human trafficking.”
“I don’t understand why Scotland as a country is letting this go on unchecked.”
She continued: “If the licensing system was still operating, you would really be saying the council is almost profiteering from exploitation.
“There are offences being committed here and so I believe the police should be using the powers that they have in order to make sure that this situation of brothels operating in plain sight is not happening in Edinburgh.”
Regan, who quit as Nicola Sturgeon’s Community Safety Minister in protest over gender recognition legislation, also said strip clubs would close if her bill becomes law: “That would still come under what we would call the gamut of sexual exploitation.”
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said: “It would be highly irresponsible, and pose risks of serious harm to close these spaces and expect sex work to disappear.
"Safety must always be our top priority when approaching this issue, and that comes from listening to the voices of sex workers and advocacy groups who want to support them and prevent harm. Sex work isn’t going to go away if we ban or close these spaces.
"Driving sex workers underground makes them far less safe, and creates a deeply dangerous environment rather than making things better.
“Last year, Belgium granted sex workers pensions and other workers’ rights. We should be adopting a model of safety that listens to the people involved directly, and offers them protection from harassment, trafficking and other threats.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Commercial sexual exploitation and any form of human trafficking is unacceptable.
“We are committed to working with our partners to investigate reports of this kind of crime, to identify those responsible and protect vulnerable victims from harm