Action Alert

Action Alert

Background

Reforms to license lap dancing clubs in the same way as sex shops is about to be debated in the Lords. We have until3rd November to make sure the Lords adopt our proposals to make licensing compulsory, not voluntary, for local authorities and to make sure venues are not exempt if they hold lap dancing less than once a month!

Get Lobbying ! Send our model letter to one, or more (!), of the key peers we have targetted below.

Model Letter 

Use our online model letter here or below.

Add any personal experiences of lap dancing venues and send to any of the peers listed below:

Your Address

Insert Peers Name Here 

The House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

DATE 

Dear Peers Name

RE: Please take action to strengthen reforms to lap dancing club licencing

I write to you as a member of the House of Lords who has previously shown an interest in the poor licensing of lap dancing to ask you to take action in the Policing and Crime Bill Report Stage debate (Clause 26, Part 2) - on 3rd and 5th November - in order to improve proposed reforms.

As you know, the Government has proposed to allow lap dancing clubs to be licensed in the same way as sex shops and sex cinemas. This will give local communities greater control in the licensing of lap dancing clubs and place clubs under greater scrutiny – thus better protecting women in the industry and stemming the normalising of a branch of the sex industry.

However the Policing and Crime Bill proposals are seriously flawed on two counts:

1. The new licensing regime will be optional for local councils – leading to a patchwork licensing system which the industry which will be quick to exploit. Local communities will face a postcode lottery over whether they actually get a say in licensing and performers will continue to face poor working conditions as clubs migrate to areas of weaker regulation.

2. The proposals also exempt venues holding lap dancing less than once a month. Thus pubs and bars which hold ‘lap dancing nights’, catered for by lap dancing agencies, will be excluded. This already significant sub-market of the lap dancing industry is likely to further expand.

I therefore strongly urge you to speak in favour of amendments to ensure reforms are applied universally and contain no frequency-based exemption. These amendments will be be tabled by Baroness Joyce Gould, during Report Stage of the Policing and Crime Bill - on 3rd and 5th of November.

Without these amendments, Clause 26 of the Policing and Crime Bill will contain significant loopholes and represent a crucial missed opportunity to tackle commercial sexual exploitation.

I look forward to hearing from you on this important matter.

Yours sincerely

Your NAME 

Peers

Please write to one, or more (!) of the key peers we have targeted:

o Lord Bilmoria

o Baroness Neuberger

o Baroness Northover

o Lord Norton

o Baroness Uddin

o Baroness Wilkins

o Baroness Grundy

o Baroness Flathers

o Baroness Goudie

o Lord Hylton

o Baroness Jay

o Lord Listowel

o Baroness Ludford

If you receive a reply please send a copy to our partners at the FAWCETT Society:

kat.banyard@fawcettsociety.org.uk

or Kat Banyard, Fawcett Society, 1-3 Berry Street, London EC1V 0AA

Thank You

Thank you for taking action at this crucial stage.

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