Policing and Crime Bill

In any interchange with the noble Lord, Lord Desai, too, I preface my remarks with the words of the apostle: ""I speak as a fool"." However, I do not think that his argument is entirely convincing. I would not want to say that we presume the guilt of any man who pays for sex but any person paying for sex needs to take extreme care to make sure that they are not complicit in the exploitative activities to which we have referred. I do not think that it is a presumption of guilt; it is a presumption of extreme care on the part of somebody paying for sex. There are strong arguments on both sides. I admire the Government’s courage for taking this matter on. It comes down to whether we need that culture shift. At the end of the day, that is what determines whether we allow a strict liability provision—it is whether the issue is such that unless we do, we will not address it. Whether Clause 13 stands part of the Bill or not, without the strict liability provision, it will be a dead duck.