Scottish voters reject SNP’s policy on sex work

Scottish voters reject SNP’s policy on sex work
30 May 2024

  • Scots oppose SNP plans to ban the purchase of sex, with 47% saying it should be legal – compared to 32% who disagree
  • Public tell SNP Government to junk plans for “Nordic Model” and instead focus on protecting sex workers and reducing stigma
  • Public opposes all key elements of SNP sex work policy, and tell ministers to instead listen to sex workers and groups that represent them

Scots have rejected the Scottish Government’s plans to criminalise the purchase of sex, in a major blow to the SNP’s plans to introduce the so-called “Nordic Model” in Scotland.

A YouGov poll of 1,088 Scottish adults, carried out for National Ugly Mugs (NUM), the UK’s sex worker victim support charity, shows that Scots firmly oppose the SNP’s controversial sex work policy agenda, including its foundational principle that sex work always equates to violence against women – which is supported by only 13% of adults in Scotland.

The polling comes after new First Minister John Swinney pledged to take a “moderate” approach to Government in which he would “govern from the mainstream”. As the party prepares to deliver an updated Programme for Government, the polling shows that Scots think the following:

  • In a rejection of SNP plans to outlaw the purchase of sex, 47% think it should be legal for a person to pay someone to have sex with them, versus 32% who think it should not be legal.
  • 69% of Scots say the Scottish Government should focus on protecting the health and safety of sex workers, and providing support to people who want to leave the industry, compared to 14% who support the government passing new laws to prevent people exchanging sexual services for money.
  • 62% oppose the Scottish Government’s declaration that sex work always equals violence against women, with only 13% supporting this idea. The SNP refuses to allow groups who will not sign up to this extreme proposition – including NUM – to join Government-backed working groups on sex work policy and exiting.
  • Instead, 79% think the Scottish Government should consult sex workers and sex worker-led groups when considering new laws to keep sex workers safe (7% opposed).
  • Despite Nordic Model campaigners’ calls to outlaw adult services websites, used by sex workers to advertise their services and access support from charities, 63% say they would prefer sex workers to look for business online, versus 2% who would prefer them to look for business on the street.
  • 45% think that two sex workers should be allowed to work together in the same premises, a practice often adopted for safety reasons, instead of the current legal position in which both can be charged for exploiting each other under brothel-keeping legislation – versus 24% who disagree.
  • Only 1% of Scottish adults think issues around sex work should be a priority for the Scottish Government at the present time.

The new findings come after the Scottish Government published its “strategic approach to challenging and deterring men’s demand for prostitution” earlier this year, which it said was the first step towards criminalising the purchase of sex. The controversial approach runs counter to recommendations from leading international NGOs including Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, UN AIDS, Human Rights Watch, and the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, which have called instead for the full decriminalisation of sex work.

The polling shows that Scots are concerned about the challenges faced by sex workers, who face routine discrimination in many areas of their lives. 82% of Scottish adults say there is a great deal or a fair amount of stigma towards sex work, while 54% think that there should not be any stigma. Linked to this, 77% think that banks should not be allowed to close an account, or refuse to open one, for someone because they are a sex worker (compared to 8% who think it should be allowed) – an issue that many sex workers have experienced.

Dr Raven Bowen, chief executive of National Ugly Mugs, said: “This poll shows that Scots are opposed to the SNP’s extreme plans to criminalise the purchase of sex, which international evidence shows only serves to increase violence against sex workers, by eliminating their revenue streams, making them desperate and destitute.

“It is now clear that mainstream Scottish voters side with charities, researchers and international organisations such as Amnesty International, UN Aids and the World Health Organisation in calling for a fundamentally different approach to regulating sex work that focuses on supporting sex workers’ rights and safety, and improving their quality of life and life chances.

“Despite being the UK’s largest sex worker safety charity, supporting more sex workers through our NUMbrella Lane Glasgow hub than any other organisation in Scotland, the SNP have barred NUM from sitting on any Government-backed sex work policy groups. This is because we are an evidence-based organisation that cannot sign on to their extremist ideological statement that all sex work equates to violence against women.

“We now know that the Scottish public also overwhelmingly rejects this inaccurate and oversimplified notion – which is the basis for the Government’s entire sex work policy agenda. I urge Ministers to adopt an educated and nuanced approach that reflects the conditions that create forced labour and survival sex work, instead of trying to exclude the research and lived experience that charities like NUM can offer.”