Punish the men who pay for sex, rather than the women lured into that life | Sonia Sodha

Prostitution puts lives in danger yet sexual exploitation is permitted to thrive in the UK

Labour's most ambitious pledge isn't to reach the highest sustained growth in the G7, or to transition Britain to zero-carbon electricity by 2030. It is to halve male violence against women and girls over the next decade. At least 100 women were killed by a man in 2023. So achieving this would be an extraordinary feat that would transform the experience of being female in the UK. But a real test of Labour's commitment is whether it is prepared to protect some of the most vulnerable women in society who find themselves trapped in prostitution.

Prostitution puts women in mortal peril; it is hard to quantify precisely but women in prostitution are many, many times more likely to end up murdered than other women. Femicide Census figures highlight that 47 women involved in prostitution were killed by men in the UK between 2009 and 2023.