Priti Shiti bill plans to outlaw Gypsies

The new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (I'm going to refer to this as the Bill from now) has rightly received a whole host of criticism from the public. However, much of the public discourse ignores the subtle but cruel section four which seeks to further marginalise the Gyspsy, Roma and Traveling (GRT) community.  Section four looks to recategorise trespass from a civil to a criminal offence, allowing the police to fine travellers and seize their vehicles, which for many travellers means losing their home. 

The media have spent a long time reporting on travellers as a nuisance and this, along with the vague wording of the new bill, have led many to disregard this section as a necessary and measured response to a grave problem. However, there is no evidence to suggest that crime increases when GRT members move into an area and GRT only make up 0.1% of the UK population. 

The bill builds on a slew of laws created to outlaw the travelling community. In 1554, The Egyptian Act made being a Gypsy a crime punishable by death, this was later repealed in 1783. This abolition of the death penalty for Gypsies only lead to more sophisticated laws set to push the GRT community to flee or assimilate to a traditional British way of life. Harold MacMillian and the Conservative party banned private traveller sites in 1960, leading to mass evictions and public harassment. This forced nomadism continued until 1970 when the Caravan Sites Act was enacted, meaning that local councils had a duty to provide sites for the GRT community. This act was then abolished by John Major's Conservatives in 1994, forcing travellers to be evicted once more. 

The lack of council provisioned land and the difficulty of gaining planning permission for private GRT caravan sites (which can be denied by councils if conventional bricks and mortar houses are offered as alternative dwellings), has made finding suitable settlements very difficult. From 2015, local councils attempted to ban travellers from camping in certain areas, even if travellers new to the area are unaware of these areas. These bans were in place until 2021 when a judge deemed them illegal; for six years, councils were effectively banning the GRT community. Now the new bill threatens to implicate this ban nationwide. 

The new bill seeks to prosecute those who "trespass with the intention to live in or near a vehicle if they have caused or likely to cause significant damage, disruption, or distress". It is important to note the use of the term "likely to cause..", it is not necessary to actually cause damage, disruption or distress, it is only necessary to look like you will. Given the rife prejudice within British society - 44.6% of the UK population view Gypsies and Travellers in a negative light, according to a YouGov poll- the vague wording of this bill may lead to malicious over-reporting. 

 Although the legislation does not name Gypsy, Roma or Travellers specifically, it is likely that it was drawn up with them in mind. The GRT community has dealt with persecution for their entire existence and are still actively persecuted today. The Joint Committee on Human Rights stated: "proposals self-evidently discriminate against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people, putting at risk their right to practise their culture without being unfairly criminalised in the absence of adequate sites".

 The Bill will now go to the Commons for consideration of Lords amendments, the dates are yet to be announced.