EDINBURGH — Edinburgh sex workers prevailed in their campaign when a judge ruled today that the city council’s attempt to ban all strip clubs was unlawful.
The council’s policy, known as “nil-cap,” effectively banned all “sexual entertainment venues” (SEV) in the historic Scottish capital.
Local sex workers, alongside the clubs where they make their livings launched a judicial review and today judge Lord Richardson released an 82-page judgment ruling it unlawful, the Daily Record reported.
“The committee was wrongly advised that in the events it made a nil determination that would not constitute a ban on SEVs,” Lord Richardson wrote.
As XBIZ reported, sex workers were allowed to testify about the potential harm to their lives and livelihoods if the “nil-cap” policy was implemented at a March 2022 meeting and also during a two-day hearing at the Court of Session in December.
Rosie Walker, partner and head of litigation at Gilson Gray, which acted for the United Sex Workers (USW) union, told the Daily Record that Lord Richardson’s ruling was a “fantastic and very well-deserved result”.
Walker noted that if the council’s “nil-cap” scheme had been upheld, it “would have resulted in the closure of all strip clubs in the city. That would have meant many of USW’s members losing their livelihoods or having to move away from their homes and families to find work elsewhere.”
‘United We Are Stronger’
United Sex Workers celebrated the decision, issuing a statement via a Twitter thread today.
“We beat the nil-cap in Edinburgh,” the group announced. “After months of uncertainty, we are incredibly pleased the Court has held that the City of Edinburgh Council’s decision to impose a nil cap on the number of strip clubs in the City was unlawful.”
If upheld, the council’s nil-cap decision “would have resulted in the closure of all strip clubs in the city. This would have meant many of our members losing their livelihoods or having to move away from their homes and families to find work elsewhere,” the group explained.
“Not only is this a huge win for strippers in Edinburgh, who are no longer facing the prospect of forced mass-unemployment in the middle of a recession, but for the working rights of strippers across Britain,” they added. “Nil-caps are a violent, anti-worker policy that removes strippers’ access to safe workplaces, workers’ rights and their ability to improve their own working conditions. Now they have been found unlawful, we hope this puts an end to local council’s imposing strip club bans.”
The group concluded by explaining that, as sex workers, “especially those of us that are most impacted by criminalization, it can be hard to imagine there is a world where we can not only work in safety, but with full access to workers’ rights and protections. Each time our members win, move one step closer to making that a reality. United we are stronger.”
Main Image: United Sex Workers activists protesting the nil-cap policy (Photo: Twitter)