HOME Secretary Jacqui Smith will today unveil a tough package of measures designed to crack down on the sex trade in the UK.

This will include the criminalisation of those who buy sex from a woman “controlled for another person's gain” – a definition covering prostitutes with pimps, trafficked women and drug addicts working to pay off their dealers.

Ignorance of a woman's circumstances will not be a defence, while those who pay a prostitute knowing she has been forcibly trafficked could face rape charges.

Ms Smith believes her wide definition of a “controlled woman” will include the majority of Britain's 80,000 sex workers. Her hope is that this will drastically reduce the number of men paying for sex.

However, her attempts to stamp out prostitution have met with short shrift from Liverpool City Council’s deputy leader, Cllr Flo Clucas, who led Liverpool’s failed bid for an official red-light zone.

She says the proposals fail to get to the heart of the issue as revealed by her own research, which showed that 98% of prostitutes were addicted to hard drugs.

The best way to cut the number of prostitutes, says Cllr Clucas, would be to provide fast, effective drug treatment.

No-one would argue with the need to protect vulnerable women, who have often been brought into the country illegally or under false pretences, from those who would ruthlessly exploit them.

But Cllr Clucas makes a compelling case that the Home Secretary’s plans cannot be enforced and would not help most of the women on the streets of Liverpool.

Ms Smith’s announcement is just the latest in a long line of well-intentioned attempts to crack down on prostitution, all of which have usually had little or no effect. It has not earned its reputation as the “world’s oldest profession” without good reason.