You may have hear that the Scottish Parliament voted to reject the Unbuyable Bill at the Stage One vote on 3rd February. The SNP government said that they while they supported the bill’s general principles, they would not vote in favour of its general principles. (Make it make sense!)
Naturally, this is very disappointing for us at Restore and our allies at Evangelical Alliance Scotland and CARE, after we put so much effort into the campaign; for Ash Regan MSP and her team who sacrificed so much for this cause; and for the survivors of prostitution who were present at the vote and had hoped to see the Parliament vote against what had happened to them happening to “the next generation of wee girls”.
But we are not daunted! The debate at the Scottish Parliament made it clear that the argument has been won. The statements against the bill were very weak, and the government has committed to a commission on the issue with a view to bringing forward a similar bill of its own in the next parliament. It would be easy for these promises to be forgotten or put on the back burner, which is why we must continue to remind the government of its committments!
You can find out how your current MSPs voted here. With the Scottish elections coming up in the spring, why don’t you ask the candidates vying for your vote what their position is on this issue? Let’s make it clear to our elected representatives that women and children’s freedom and safety is more important to us than punters’ entitlement.
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