House of Lords move to stop Lap dancing bill
Remember the lap dancing bill that was announced ages ago? Since then we have had recessions and an expenses crisis (that saw most of the protagonists sacked) so you could be forgiven for letting it slip your mind. The bill proposed to bring lap dancing venues into line with sex shops by calling them ‘sex encounter establishments’ thus closing most of them and outlawing the business. No-one was quite sure how it was going to work, but with unemployment rising it was not going to be good!
Both Tory and Labour peers in the House Of Lords have rejected these plans, saying that thousands of dancers will be stigmatised with the vague wording of the bill plus the job losses that will follow such a draconian measure.
Bar staff, door staff, management, cleaners and a hundred other types of employee will be affected. This is apart from the money that is raised is tax from venues!
The legislation is pressing ahead and the application process should start in April 2010. By April 2011 lap dancing venues without a sex establishment licence (where Councils have adopted the legislation) will have to close. Existing clubs will not get any special treatment. The annual fees for a licence will be in the region of £5000. Lap dancing clubs have until 14th December 2009 to respond to the Home Office consultation.
Comment by Richard Williams — 2 October 2009 @ 4:13 pm