Senior council officials and police chiefs in Glasgow are working with their counterparts in Sweden in an attempt to tackle prostitution within the city.

Representatives of both the Swedish police and government have already visited the city this year and are scheduled to come again within the next few months as Glasgow prepares its case to lobby the Scottish Government for powers to adopt a zero tolerance approach to buying sex.

Although kerb-crawling has been illegal since last year, Glasgow wants the law extended to people purchasing sex from private flats, saunas and brothels. The local authority would in tandem attempt to persuade sex workers to give up prostitution.

Although the council has refused to give any timescale for when it would be ready to begin lobbying Holyrood, discussions with Sweden are advanced.

Such a move would also be the culmination of more than a decade's crusading by the council's deputy leader Jim Coleman, a vocal critic of the industry in all its guises.

Mr Coleman said: "We applaud and plan to emulate the Swedish approach. For the best of reasons, many residents believe that if you regulate prostitution you make women safe. But as soon as you discover the violence and exploitation endured by women every day, it cannot possibly be condoned."

Ann Wilson, the city's head of strategic management for community safety services, added: "Sexual exploitation is completely unacceptable, so we're doing what we can to tackle the demand.

"It is a myth that prostitution is the oldest profession and that it will always be with us. We are in this for the long haul but do not underestimate the challenge.

"No country or city has managed to get rid of the problem, but countries such as Sweden have begun to see an impact. They have seen no growth in prostitution and a significant reduction in trafficking."

Glasgow's approach is not shared by Edinburgh or Aberdeen. Both cities have taken a more pragmatic, harm-reduction approach to prostitution.

The capital currently has around 13 saunas, effectively legalised brothels, operating under licence from the city council. In Aberdeen, Quay Services, a Scottish Government-funded body, has been texting health and safety advice to sex workers who have been dispersed from the harbour area by the legal changes.

The Scottish Prostitutes Education Project, a charity, said: "Studies 1show that criminalisation and clampdowns on kerb-crawlers merely cause sex workers to work longer hours in greater isolation, leaving them more vulnerable to attack."