The secretary of state for Wales is being investigated by police over a leaflet to constituents which campaigners claimed created a “hostile environment” for gypsies and travellers.
Gwent Police was called in over a leaflet distributed in David T. C. Davies’s Monmouth constituency in response to the local Labour-controlled council’s plans to build a site for gypsies and travellers.
The postcard-style leaflet asked residents, “Did you know the Labour-controlled county council wants to create gypsy and traveller sites in your area?”
It then went on to ask, “Would you like to see a traveller site next to your house?”
Advocacy Group: Leaflet is ‘Racist’
Trudy Aspinwall, a project manager at Travelling Ahead, told WalesOnline, “You really would only have to substitute the words ‘gipsy and traveller’ for any other ethnic group and you would see that it is racist.”“There is no doubt that this was targeted at gipsies and travellers. They are protected under the Equality Act and there is a duty to not incite hostility or opposition based on race,” she added.
Ms. Aspinwall said some travellers had been in contact with her, saying they feared the leaflet would create hostility.
Detective Inspector Steve Thomas, from Gwent Police, said: “Officers are reviewing the content of the leaflet and its impact on the gypsy and traveller and settled communities in Monmouthshire.
“We take any allegation of discrimination extremely seriously and we’re committed to ensuring our communities are safe places and welcoming for all,” he added.
In the leaflet, Mr. Davies was quoted as saying Monmouthshire County Council had left insufficient time for a proper consultation with members of the public who would be affected.
“The council plans a short consultation during the summer holiday period when many residents will be unable to participate,” the leaflet says.
Mr. Davies said: “The location of authorised and unauthorised traveller sites is a legitimate matter for public debate and scrutiny. It is entirely valid to criticise a lack of wide public consultation by a council.
“I have been contacted by many upset residents at the shortness of the consultation and the proposed locations for the sites,” he added.
Mr. Davies said: “I have also been told that many from the gypsy and traveller community are also upset at the proposed locations for the sites. This is not a criticism of the gypsy and traveller community.”
‘Standing up for his Constituents’
Mr. Dowden told Sky News: “No, and I think what David T.C. Davies was doing was highlighting the failure of the local Labour council to carry out a proper consultation on this, that is entirely what people would expect their local members of Parliament to do. He is standing up for his constituents, making their case for them and I totally support his right to do that.”There have been gypsies in Britain since the 16th century although today the community includes a mixture of Irish travellers, those of Roma origin and so-called New Age travellers.
Relations between gypsies and local residents can be tense, with travellers often being blamed for petty crime, fly-tipping and other anti-social behaviour.
Britain’s most famous gypsy is world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury, whose wife Paris described in her autobiography the racist attacks she had suffered since appearing on a TV show.
In 2022 Mrs. Fury told an interviewer: “Gypsy is a race, it’s a race of people, so it’s not an insult in any way. But the problem is, for hundreds of years, there’s been that real derogatory term that if you’re a gypsy, you’re a problem, you’re an outcast.”
Romany gypsies and Irish travellers are covered by the protected characteristic of race under the the 2010 Equality Act and councils have a duty to “actively seek to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and promote good race relations.”
PA Media contributed to this report.
