Responding to the announcement that there will be new laws making it illegal to pay for sex with a woman controlled by a pimp or trafficked, Jenny Jones, said
"This change in the law aims to protect women from exploitation, but it is completely undermined by the closure of the Metropolitan Police’s trafficking unit. The proposed law introduces a strict liability clause meaning that it will not be a defence for a client to claim that he didn’t know of the women’s circumstances. This makes it essential that the police present a watertight prosecution case, based upon the cooperation of the women involved and the in depth intelligence provided by a specialist unit. I will be putting a motion to the London Assembly calling on the Home Office to reverse their withdrawal of £2.3m in funding from the trafficking unit and to ask the London mayor to take urgent action to ensure that unit’s future."