By Redaction Reporter
A ROMANY Gypsy campaigner has blasted the Labour Party’s approach to the UK’s traveller community.
Luke Smith, 28, a Romany Gypsy activist who runs the GRT Socialist Twitter account, said Labour is using campaign leaflets against his community in a bid to appeal to reactionary voters.
Labour struggled to attract support from working class communities in the 2019 general election, losing a number of key seats in northern England to the Conservatives.
Smith told Redaction Report: “They don’t care about Gypsies, Roma, and travellers. They’re still using dodgy leaflets, it was only a couple of days ago that I found one in Caversham.
“These leaflets talk about handing out eviction notices, but have they actually tried to solve the problem of unauthorised encampment? Have they put in place transit sites? No, nobody wants to talk about that.
“I just gave up with them. They’re not a party that cares about people like me or the people in my communities.
“I think they’ve got a very particular voter base in mind: the very middle class professionals. But they don’t care about working class minorities.
“The only working class they care about is the white reactionary side, the racist side, not the progressive working class.”
Charlotte Nichols, a former shadow minister in the Labour Party, apologised last year after distributing material in her constituency which was deemed offensive to travellers.
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities suffer in many aspects of life in Britain, having some of the lowest educational attainment rates among minority groups with little being done to improve it.
Smouth said: “The change needed doesn’t have to be big things, it can be as simple as going to a council meeting and asking what the provision is for Gypsies and Travellers.
“MPs complain enough about unauthorised encampments coming to their constituencies, but what are they doing to address the problem?
“The source of the problem is them, not us, they’re not giving us anywhere to live. If it was homeless white people, they would be offered a council house.
“Why is it that they think they can deny us access to housing, healthcare, education and the rest of it?”
The Labour Party was contacted for comment.
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