Our NGO has dealt with the victims of the horrible crime of trafficking young girls and women. Too many times government authorities are concentrating on punishing the victims and the perpetrators go with reduced fines because they are part of an "establishment" which has often used bribes to stay out of the limelight. Too many times the unfortuante victims have been deported. Human trafficking is a crime which should be severly punished. If we stop the organised gangs running trafficking we can make a safer place for girls and women who could fall prey to such gangs and trafficking schemes. Let's concentrate on the root of the crime.

Dr. Neal Seymour, Newport News, Virginia USA

If we can't make paying for sex shameful then make it illegal and about bloody time too.

Susan, Barry, S Wales

What about the escort industry, is that to be effected in the same way???

It proves yet again that the government do not know what is best for the country, I know of a lot of friends who have to escort and very likely have sex with men, because it's the only way of them earning the money to have corrective surgerys that the NHS has denied them.

Nicola Clubb, Bournemouth,

I think there is a huge mythology surrounding this whole subject. My own experience, over many years as a client, is that with one possible exception I have never encountered a girl who appeared to be trapped or abused (and on that one occasion I made my excuses). The girls are generally cheerful and the experience is typically good-humoured, respectful and consensual, albeit on commercial terms.

If there are girls out there being abused (and it seems from press reports that there must be) then this is what needs to be stopped, not the activities of consenting adults in private.

George, London, UK

Female politicians don't like men paying for sex. This is about gender politics. Where have all the men gone? British birds are the roughest in the world. I have travelled all over and pommey women are loud, raw and devious. I think that increasingly British men find it safer paying for sex. Most of the working girls I meet, don't seem like victims. They seem confident and in control.

What with the biased divorce/cohabitation laws, I don't think I could even get it up anymore under 'normal' circumstances.

Tarquin, Bristol,

I do hope Mac Shane and Harrmen will respect the gender Equality bit, and jail women who pay for sex. in comparable numbers. What constitutes sex in the twentyfirst century?

Regarding Prostitution, refer to definition (Colins Concise) it could be interpreted in such a way as to put Whitehall firmly in the tourist guide as a premier Red Light district, and make the Palace of Westminster the greatest Little Whore House in Britain.
At least Politicians and Prostitutes have a common DNA, so maybe the person advocating the legislation have a deeper knowledge of the subject than their rhetoric exhibits.
Try making the legislation you have WORK smoke and mirrors don't solve problems.

Sandy, Victoria,

I thought all men paid for sex one way or the other

john, Baku,

There has been a law like this in Sweden for some time and to some degree it works - One offender, a high court judge, was charged, found guilty, punished and has now returned to work as a judge!
Interesting to say the least.

Mark, Malmö, Sweden

Prostitution should be regularised, it should not be made illegal. Most women who work in the indusrty do it purely for the financial reward, to keep their families, and yes sometimes a rather undesirable boyfriend in drugs too. Lets also keep in mind the legal form of prostitution i.e. Marriage, where women keep doing what they do to keep a roof over their head, or some standard of living they are used to.
Women do it for all sorts of reasons, but yes they do have a choice, and whilst every effort should be made to enable women to make other choices, it is at the end of the day their decision.
Someone who has been there done it, and come through to the other side.

Anon, UK,

Brothel based prostitution should be fully legalised and regulated.
Street based prostitution should be illegal.

CR, Essex,

Yet more Nanny state. So the oldest profession is to be shut shop. It will only drive it underground. Women have the choice.
Maybe it'll be like driving with a mobile phone. The prisons are full already- what political incompetence.

James, London, UK

Here's an idea - regulate prostitution and make it legal to pay for sex with a woman who has a valid licence. To have the licence the prostitute would have to agree to regular health checks (paid for out of their earnings, not the taxpayer) and work from an approved location, i.e. brothel or private address.
Then say it is a criminal offence to pay for sex - or solicit it - outside this critera.
Result? You take the need for a back-street sex industry out of the equation.

keith, reading, england

There are so many loopholes in this process as to make it unworkable.

The really useful thing, to place some control over brothels, has, as one would expect, been ignored.

Far from condoning the importation of women, girls and boys to service for what is clearly a hugely popular industry, I would prefer to see recognition of a very obvious fact. That prostitution, like the tide cannot and should not be stopped or even reduced.

Once again, this Govt. has looked at a problem from the wrong end. All that's going to happen is yet more restrictions, more paperwork and more disregard for the law.

richard, bangkok,

As usual this government tackles the problem from the wrong end. They say that the problem is the trafficking of women. Make THAT the offence and concentrate resources where they can make a difference.
I agree with Sue in Essex & Mike in ALicante - proper regulation & licensing is the key, not indiscriminate, poorly thought out, knee-jerk legislation.

D, London,

He, he, have not ever been with one (I would say that would I not), but the picture of King Canute comes to mind when reading this.

I think less PC laws which protects criminals and better policing is the better way.

Richard, London,

I think it is a woman's freedom to ask money for sex if she wants to and a man's freedom to pay it. Fortunately I live in Belgium where we have freedoms. You can tackle the 'crime' with decriminalisation and it works here.

Nick Lawrence, Gavere, Belgium

New Labour never ever get their priorities right as there are far more criminal problems that affect all citizens and need to be addressed than a small social problem affecting just a few. Almost every law and order piece of legislation this moronic government has brought in is based only on ideology, PR or minority lobbies and none of it has done anything for the majority. Prostitution is not a major problem and the elements that are unpleasant such as the sex slave trade could be solved at a stroke if the industry was regulated as in other forward thinking countries. Denis MacShane, Harriet Harman and others have this twisted misconception that by fining men it will stop the trade which is unlikely in the extreme.

Mike, Alicante, Spain

having been given peak radio-time exposure, mrs harman is now promoting sweden as the ideal society. do not be taken in. sweden is one of the worst social models to adopt. it is a country which is governed exclusively by militant feminist groups in the interests of feminists and their girl children. men are second-class citizens and many professions and jobs are not available to them. typically male skills or contributions to society such as creativity, inventive ness, problem-solving, initiative and a willingness to defend home and family are held up to ridicule. as a consequence, the rates of depression, suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction among men are at shocking levels. the response is prohibitions, bans and suppression, not treatment of the problems (which would undermine the feminist authority). in many villages, it is not possible to buy wines. they have to be ordered specially . when mrs harman begins to promote the swedish social model: beware.

bruce, apt, france

I don't make use of these womens' services and would support in principle any measure that served to free abused women and punish the vile groups who enslave them. On that basis this measure doesn't bother me at all. I am however deeply insulted and disgusted by the apparent assumption that this should only apply to men. This newspaper carried an article not so long ago about women who pay for sex. If the criminal offence is to be paying for sex then such a law must be gender neutral. I see no reason why demand for an unsavoury service is less wrong for one sex than the other.

Ben, Morton in the Marsh, UK

'councils and police chiefs will be given powers to put men before the courts if they pay women for sex' What, ALL men paying women for sex? is this a joke?

Shouldn't we just be concentrating on stricter border control, finding and prosecuting the traffickers and releasing the poor women held as prisoners.

It's misleading to say 'to satisfy the demand of British men for paid-for sex' why British men?

NP, Paris, France

The fact that some very nasty criminals are bringing unwilling girls into Britain as sex slaves is not a reason to make paying for sex an offence. The authorities need to catch the criminals who are bringing in the girls.Border controls should be much tighter anyway as there are so many illegal immigrants.

Instead prostitution should be licensed. Women would then have to apply for their own licences, be interviewed to make sure that they were willing and lived legally in the country. They could be given regular medical checks as well.

Prostitution provdes a service for men who are unable to find a partner. As long as the women providing that service are willing and kept safe it doent seem to hurt anyone.

It will only drive prostitution more underground if it is made illegal. Then there will be less chance of helping any unwilling women. You will never stop it.

Sue, Essex,

Typical knee-jerk from the ninny state. How about controlling entry into the UK first? Prostitution per se is not wrong, so why drive it underground where those compelled to earn a living that way have no protection from the authorities despite needing it most?

Les, Lavendon,