The Scottish Government’s consultation on prostitution is welcome.
Its starting point is that the selling of sex is harmful to women and therefore demand has to be reduced.
How this is achieved, though, will be a challenge.
As long as there are vulnerable women who need to find money from somewhere, there will be men willing to exploit them.
The libertarian idea that prostitution is simply a transaction between two parties misses the point.
Some women have no choice and they are drawn into a hellish and often very dangerous existence.
Whether banning paying for sex is the right course of action remains to be seen.
But any moves to end the exploitation and abuse of women is a step in the right direction.
