The Government announced a zero tolerance campaign against kerbcrawlers today and said it would encourage police to confiscate the driving licences of serial offenders under a new Home Office strategy on prostitution.

Launching the proposals, Fiona Mactaggart, the Home Office Minister, also confirmed that the law could be changed to allow up to three prostitutes to work legally from a single dwelling without risking a charge of brothel-keeping.

The strategy document said: "At present only one person may work as a prostitute - more than that ... and the premises are classed in case law as a brothel. This runs counter to advice that women should not work alone in the interest of safety.

"The Government will make proposals for an amendment to the definition of a brothel so that two or three individuals may work together."

The new strategy follows a public consultation launched by David Blunkett in July 2004, when he was Home Secretary, which promised to look at ideas such as legalised red light areas or "managed zones" to reduce the problems of streetwalking.

But that idea has already been ruled out by ministers, even though it was supported by some local authorities.

Instead the Government has decided that kerbcrawlers should be "prosecuted rigorously" to protect communities from problems associated with street prostitution. There should also be warning signs, CCTV and extra street lighting in known red light areas, the strategy document said.

The Government is also planning to introduce a new penalty for streetwalking that could see prostitutes referred to drug or alcohol rehabilitation programmes rather than face fines.

Ms Mactaggart said today: "Prostitution blights communities and the lives of those who participate. While kerb-crawlers could choose not to pay for sex, women involved in prostitution often have very limited choices in life.

"They come from difficult backgrounds, might have drug problems or nowhere safe to live. I want them to have help and support to leave prostitution.

"The communities who suffer the side effects of prostitution end up with no choice over what happens on their streets - and they are the ones who see used condoms on the streets, who live in fear of innocent women being abused or attacked and who have the stigma of living in a red-light area.

"We will not eradicate prostitution overnight, but we must not condone this exploitative industry. I want to see a tough approach to kerb-crawling, combined with much better work to prevent children being drawn into prostitution and give those involved a route out."

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