Report calls for end to ‘pop up’ brothels

Vulnerable women are being sexually exploited on an industrial scale in socalled “pop-up brothels” run by trafficking gangs, a new report has warned.

The brothels, often set up in residential properties using short-term leases, allow gangs to keep ahead of police and retain control over the women, the All-party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Prostitution and the Global Sex Trade said.

It called for Britain to follow the lead of other European nations by criminalising people who pay for sex, but decriminalising the selling of sex to cut demand.

The report found sexual exploitation of women by organised crime was “widespread”. It said there were at least 212 active, ongoing police operations in the UK into modern slavery cases involving sexual exploitation.