Lap dancers visit No.10

The Lap Dancing Association (LDA) has handed in a petition to the Prime Minister urging the Government to drop plans to re-licence lap dancing clubs as sex encounter establishments.

The LDA petition, which has 3,00 signatures, opposes the suggestion that lap dancing clubs are sex encounter establishments and firmly refutes the idea that sex is for sale in members' clubs.

The petition further confirms that women who work in these clubs do so of their own volition and that patrons visit in the full knowledge of house rules.

"We have been overwhelmed by the support for our cause," said LDA secretary Kate Nicholls.

"We face an uphill battle as unfortunately some of the militant campaigners who would have lap dancing clubs closed down entirely have spent a lot of this year putting out entirely fallacious information regarding our industry.

"We aren't licensed in the same way as cafes and bars. Local communities do have full powers of consultation, complaint and control, we don't sell sex and clubs don't have any impact on local crime.

"The only argument they have to fall back on is a moral one and there is no place for such a subjective assessment in the debate around the regulatory regime for a legitimate industry.

"We would urge the Government to listen to the growing groundswell of support for this dynamic and professional part of the UK entertainment industry."