Men who use prostitutes could face jail say ministers

Senior female members of the Government, including Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, are sympathetic to the proposal to try to stem the growing tide of women trafficked to the UK to work as prostitutes, according to The Guardian.

The Home Office said last night it had no plans to alter the law to make buying sex, rather than selling it, an offence, as Sweden did eight years ago.

But The Guardian named Ms Smith, Attorney General Baroness Scotland, Solicitor General Vera Baird and Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman as having shown an interest in the change.

The paper quoted an unnamed minister as saying: "There's no doubt whatsoever it's being talked about.

"There is increasing awareness among senior ministers, particularly women, that demand for prostitution is an area which needs to be tackled seriously and hasn't been."

Former minister Denis MacShane, who has campaigned against sex trafficking, said: "Until you have the Wilberforce moment when you say those who buy are just as guilty as those who are selling, it will continue to grow.

"It's not until there is a regular flow of men before the courts because they have paid for sex with illegally trafficked sex slaves that we will see a change in culture."

Former Home Office minister Fiona Mactaggart said: "The price of prostitution is enormously high for women (and) the more vulnerable the woman is, the cheaper the price is for men."

She suggested that a law dealing with payment for sex could be introduced as an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill which comes before Parliament on the first day of its return after the summer recess.

But a Home Office spokeswoman said: "We have no current plans to criminalise paying for sex.

"We carefully considered that option as part of a public consultation on prostitution in 2004 but decided not to introduce a new offence."

Men can already be prosecuted for using prostitutes in certain circumstances, such as kerb-crawling.