HC Deb 28 April 1966 vol 727 cc922-3
10. Dame Joan Vickers

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to amend the Street Offences Act, 1959, to do away with the special laws against common prostitutes which would include repealing Section 1(1) of the Act and replacing it by a clause applicable to all citizens, whether men or women, who cause annoyance or nuisance by loitering or soliciting in the streets or public places.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Dick Taverne)

My right hon. Friend has no proposals for legislation on this subject.

Dame Joan Vickers

May I ask the hon. Gentleman to look at this again, in view of the decision on appeal in the Crook v. Edmondson case, where it was agreed, with one judge dissenting, that Edmondson had been persistently soliciting women in the street and could not be caught under Section 32 of the Sexual Offences Act, 1956?

Mr. Taverne

The Act to which the hon. Lady refers was concerned particularly with prostitution in the streets. There are a number of Measures under which men who cause a nuisance in the streets can be dealt with, depending very much on their behaviour, such as the Metropolitan Police Act, 1839, and certain local Acts.