Labour backs campaign for stricter licensing of lap-dancing clubs

Labour in Brighton and Hove is at the forefront of a campaign to give councils power to regulate lap-dancing clubs.

The campaign is led by City council Labour leader Councillor Gill Mitchell and supported by all three of the city's Labour MPs and future parliamentary candidates Nancy Platts and Simon Burgess.  They call on the Government to change the law so that lap dancing clubs and strip clubs are regulated in the same way as sex shops and sex cinemas.

The "Stripping The Illusion" campaign, supported by The Fawcett Society, was launched at Parliament last week. Councillor Mitchell has met Culture Minister Gerry Sutcliffe to press for the change, and Hove MP Celia Barlow has tabled questions in the House of Commons which it is hoped will lead to the loophole being closed.

David Lepper, Brighton Pavilion Labour and Co-operative MP, is one of six main sponsors of an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons calling for local councils like Brighton and Hove city council to have more control over the setting up of lap dancing clubs.  The  EDM was put down last week by Labour MP Lynda Waltho with the backing of MPs David Lepper, Julie Morgan, Lynne Jones. Roberta Blackman-Wood and Clare Short.  In just seven days it has got the backing of 29 more Mps.

Pavilion Labour's Nancy Platts is actively supporting the campaign and has launched a petition on her Web site.  She says: "I've spoken to men and women across Brighton who are appalled at the growth of lap-dancing clubs here.

"Lap-dancing clubs exploit women who rarely have any employment rights. They are usually self-employed and pay a fee to dance as well as providing their own outfits. There are often too many women, so the only way to make money is to offer "private dances" - and from here, lap-dancers can be pressured into offering sex.

"While clubs claim they are not part of the sex trade, bowls of condoms are often provided in the private dance rooms.

"Lap-dance clubs normalise the sexual objectification of women and it's of great concern to me that research among men who might consider strip clubs and brothels distasteful or unacceptable can justify a visit to a lap-dance club as harmless fun.

"A perverse effect of the 2003 Licensing Act means that they are licensed in the same way as cafes and pubs. I want them to be licensed as Sex Encounter Establishments so that Brighton and Hove City Council will be able to refuse applications.

"I don't want lap-dancing clubs in Brighton. I want Brighton to be fun, not seedy - and certainly not a place where women feel exploited or unsafe."

David says:

“Many of us have been concerned about the increase in lap dancing clubs in the city in the last year. Although the council has tried to restrict this the magistrates have in at least one case overruled the council. I believe this is an unintended loophole in the Licensing Act which should be closed.

“I welcome the fact that last year the outgoing Labour administration set aside finance in the budget for a local private Bill in Parliament should that be necessary. I hope that now the government will act without the need for that.
 
“In a recent debate in Parliament I made the point that these clubs should be treated in the same way as what are known as ‘sex encounter establishments’ such as sex shops and sex cinemas rather than places of entertainment.

“Last week I backed the campaign launched by Object calling for changes in the law.”

The EDM says:

That this House supports extending across England and Wales powers currently only held by London local authorities to license sex encounter establishments; supports removing a provision from the Licensing Act 2003 which has the effect of exempting lap dancing clubs from this licensing category; notes that lap dancing clubs are part of the commercial sex industry yet are currently licensed in the same way as cafes and karaoke; further notes that amending legislation would give local authorities the same licensing powers for lap dancing clubs as apply to sex shops and sex cinemas; and believes that this would be a crucial step in giving local people a better say in licensing policy.