2 JANUARY 1959, Page 17

MR. FOOT further says that 'it cannot be just that

a woman should go to prison for a crime which she can commit only with the connivance of a man who gets off scot-free.' Obviously prosti- tution could not exist without the connivance of men, but a woman can and does commit the offence of soliciting without the connivance of any particular man, Therefore the question of the man going scot-free or being punished does not arise. Mr. Foot accuses me of wanting to con- vict the man as well as the woman. This, too, is incorrect. If a man accosts or importunes a woman who, unlike a man, is likely to be annoyed by such an act, he commits an offence under the present law, and I was saying only that I thought such behaviour should continue to be an offence.