Police are investigating allegations that a campaign brochure produced by a Cabinet minister contained racist language directed at Travellers.
In leaflets distributed to his Monmouthshire constituents, Welsh Secretary David TC Davies voiced worries about future Gipsy, Roma, and Traveller camps nearby.
Would you like to see a Traveller site close to your home? it asks under the headline “Gipsy and Traveller site coming to your area soon!”
A support group charged Mr. Davies with inciting ‘hostility’ towards the organisations.
The pamphlet “borders on racism,” according to Mabon ap Gwynfor, a Plaid Cymru member of the Welsh Senedd, because Roma people are “the community that has been most persecuted” in the UK.
Mr. Davies charged that the Labour-controlled council was attempting to establish Traveller settlements without sufficiently consulting the local population.
The issue is the subject of a public consultation, but the MP asserts that because it is taking place in the summer, “many residents will not be able to participate.”
A form allowing individuals to share their opinions on the creation of new sites is included in the brochure.
The tiny print implies that the responses can be utilised for future campaigning on issues concerning Travellers by stating that the Conservative Party will consensually utilise their information “inside and outside election periods.”
Some people who got the pamphlet were ‘horrified’ by it, according to Trudy Aspinwall of the Gipsy, Roma, and Traveller agency Travelling Ahead.
They were angered, incensed, and concerned that any land that might end up serving as a home for Gipsy or Traveller people would be subject to such severe discrimination and hatred. She said that any area that might serve as a Gipsy or Traveller site could be viewed with animosity.
“We have no objections to a public consultation.” However, this was an overly harsh and antagonistic reaction that was directed at the racial and ethnic background and the underlying prejudice against Gipsies and Travellers.
It makes Gipsies and Travellers feel as though they are not welcome anyplace and are not a part of the community, according to research.
The co-founder of the Romani and Traveller Social Work Community Group, Allison Hulmes, continued, “When we see this from MPs who are there to set the values who we would look to for protection, it makes us feel scared, it’s so depressing. We feel like the environment is particularly hostile off the back of the new criminal legislation.
It’s just exhausting because there are so few of us who are willing to speak up and because of how small our populations are. We understand why this is. It confirms to us that we are despised.
Officers are examining the leaflet’s content and its implications for the settled and settlement populations of Gipsies and Travellers in Monmouthshire, according to Detective Inspector Steve Thomas of Gwent Police.
We take any claims of discrimination very seriously, and we’re dedicated to making sure that everyone is welcome in our communities.
A request for comment has been sent to Mr. Davies. The location of licenced and unauthorised traveller sites is a worthy topic for public discussion and investigation, he said in a statement to the BBC.
“It is entirely appropriate to criticise a council for not conducting a thorough public consultation.”
“Many angry residents have contacted me about the briefness of the consultation and the suggested locations for the sites.”
I’ve also been told that many members of the Gipsy and traveller population are dissatisfied with the sites’ intended placements. This is not intended as an attack on the community of travellers and gipsies.