An Ayrshire MSP has urged the Scottish Parliament to decriminalise prostitution.

Ruth Maguire wants the men who pay for sex, along with the pimps and crime gangs who organise the trade, to be prosecuted instead.

The Cunninghame South SNP politician also called on Parliament to take action against "pimping websites" that are exploiting women.

Her call received support from Ayr MSP and Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown.

In a motion to Holyrood today, Ms Maguire urged MSPs to welcome the publication of the report International Insights by A Model For Scotland, which is a campaign group for progressive prostitution law reform.

Her motion also urged them to consider that it is currently legal in Scotland to perpetrate and profit from prostitution, and that victims receive sanctions rather than support, including in the Cunninghame South constituency.

Ms Maguire told MSPs: "To truly realise our shared ambition of eradicating male violence again women and girls, Scotland needs a progressive legal model to tackle prostitution.

"We need a model that shifts the burden of criminality off the victims of sexual exploitation and onto those who perpetrate and profit from this abuse."

She said Scotland must join the growing number of countries - such as Sweden, Ireland and France - taking action to combat commercial sexual exploitation.

This would involve ensuring that the new model for Scotland criminalised paying for sex, decriminalised and provided support to women involved in the sex trade, and held pimping websites accountable.

Ms Maguire won cross-party support from members for her call.

Replying for the Government, Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown said she welcomed Ms Maguire's valuable contribution and confirmed a framework to challenge men's demand for prostitution was being established.

She added: "There are a lot of girls who do this and don't want to, and they need to know what help is out there and who they can turn to, and that is what our new framework will address."