If you can’t make it to the protest, you can still help by emailing your MSP using Scotland for Decrim’s template tool, to ask them to stand with sex workers and oppose Ash Regan’s bill. scotlandfordecrim.netlify.app

The Nordic model (client criminalisation) has led to more violence against sex workers in the countries, plus higher rates of poverty and poor health amongst sex workers - we can’t let this model be implemented in Scotland. We need everyone’s help to stop this bill.

There will be speakers including representatives from Scotland for Decrim, PCS Union, and our favourite Scottish Parliament ally @maggiechapman.bsky.social ❤️

If you want to support sex workers in demanding safety, as well as access to basic labour and civil rights, you can:

❤️‍🔥 Use our email template (linked in our bio) to demand your MP supports the full decriminalisation of sex work.

❤️‍🔥 Share our research report.

❤️‍🔥 Sign up to our newsletter.

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Sex workers also wanted to tell the Government that in order to prevent more people from entering sex work, they needed to implement measures to tackle poverty.

You can read our recommendations to the Government, as well as the full research report, here: decrimnow.org.uk/2025/10/30/d...

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Instead, sex workers surveyed demanded full decriminalisation.

Full decriminalisation enables sex workers to utilise existing labour rights and protections to better their own working conditions, alongside the freedom to work without fear of arrest or police violence.

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In England, Scotland and Wales, sex work is currently partially criminalised. Whilst the transaction of selling sex is technically legal, many elements surrounding it are illegal.

Our research showed sex workers overwhelmingly wanted to tell the Government that criminalisation harms them.

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Successive recessions, a cost of living crisis, and austerity measures have created conditions where people feel sex work is their best option.

Yet, some politicians seek to implement further criminalisation in the form of the Nordic Model, which would push sex workers into further danger.

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Harsh benefit sanctions were also cited as a main driver of respondents entering sex work.

Some sex workers surveyed entered sex work specifically because their benefits had been cut or taken away.

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Recent cuts to disability benefits, low wages in full-time jobs, and welfare benefits that don't pay enough to survive on, were amongst the main reasons given as to why people chose to enter sex work.

55% of sex workers in receipt of Universal Credit felt it was not enough to live on.

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Unsurprisingly, our research found that 76% of sex workers entered due to poverty & financial need.

Whilst 77% of sex workers stated they have a disability, neurodivergence, or a long-term health issue, which made accessing traditional forms of employment difficult, or impossible.

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If you live in Scotland, please use Scotland for Decrim’s template tool to email your MSP and ask them to stand up for sex workers: scotlandfordecrim.netlify.app

Launching the bill yesterday at the Red Umbrella Film Festival, Ruth Coppinger said “Reducing demand was a key aim of the 2017 Sexual Offences Act — this incontrovertibly has not worked, as the Minister for Justice himself admitted after the review of the legislation was published.

If you believe there should be no more cuts, no more austerity, no more poverty, take action now.

📧 Follow the link in our bio to use our template email to contact your MP.

💻 Sign up to our newsletter on our website & keep up to date with the situation for sex workers' rights in the UK.

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We think the government can and must do more to prevent people from having to go into sex work if they would rather not. The government’s Autumn Budget is coming up, and we want the government to take real action to reduce poverty and financial need across the country.

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You can read our open letter and see the rest of signatories, including the trade unions @aslefunion.bsky.social, @bfawu.bsky.social, and organisations like @disrightsuk.bsky.social, and @migrantsrights.bsky.social, in the images below.

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