English The new Police, Sentencing, Crime and Courts Bill passed its second reading on the 16th of March (now delayed from further passage through Parliament which can only be attested to the sustained public outcry regarding this bill). In this Bill, protesting, trespass and rights of Travellers and nomadic peoples are all up for criminalisation.
Nomadic folks in the UK have been an important part of the agricultural work force since we’ve needed people to work the land; something well documented in so much of our folk history in songs, stories and poems from all parts of the British Isles. Seasonal workers are needed up and down the country and nomadic peoples have been there to pick berries, harvest apples, ‘howk’ potatoes, harvest hops – the list goes on.
“In response to the nature crisis that we face, we need to restore our environment. This restorative work involves planting trees, hedge laying and land management, work that would favour those who are living nomadically and able to travel to different sites. This seasonal, intensive and skilled labour offers an opportunity for those communities that have traditionally engaged in seasonal work on the land and yet the skills required for this are not being taught to travelling communities. We should provide travellers and nomadic folk the opportunity to engage in meaningful work.” — Tony Thompson – Friends and Families of Travellers
In 2010, the UK passed the Equality Act, making discrimination of minority peoples illegal, and this is one of the many reasons why this new Policing bill should not pass as it is disproportionately criminalising a people’s way of life. In light of this bill, we look at some of the folk and social histories of nomadic folks in the UK to bring some attention to the lived history of these frequently marginalised groups and why it is important for us to support their way of life.
What about Romany, Roma and Traveller communities?
The Police Bill will further erode the rights of Romany, Roma and Traveller communities and nomadic folks by criminalising trespass and the life of people on roadside encampments where people could face time in prison, a £2500 fine or their home being taken from them. The new laws also stipulate travellers may not return for 12 months to the authority area – county – in which they were found to be offending. This, in real terms, could warrant police seizing people’s homes rendering them homeless, arresting all those over 18 and leaving children with the only option of foster care and parents unable to return to the county where their children are living.
“Nomadism is not new in Europe. For many cultures, it’s a way of life founded on many centuries of tradition and history. In the last few years, the UK has seen enormous progress in building an understanding with its nomadic communities. We’ve also seen a much greater emphasis on celebrating diversity. It’s such a shame the Government has seen fit to propose such drastic measures in response.
We know that forcibly removing nomadic people from their ways of life can have a significant impact on their mental health. We also know that there are not sufficient sites available for Gypsy and Traveller people to use. The Government appears to have forgotten its role in past legislation that we now rightly condemn as barbaric (a similar act was introduced in 1531, which sought to control movement of Romany people on pain of execution. It was not repealed until 1856). We saw this again with the formation of ‘forest compounds’ in the 1920s, and their forcible dissolution in the 1950s. These days we look back on these acts in horror – how long it will take for us to look back on this in the same way?
As a Romany person, I can’t help but see this Bill as history repeating itself, and I would ask the Government if they have fully considered the cultural erasure their proposal represents.” — Mattey Mitchell, a Romany and the Campaigns Officer at Friends, Families and Travellers.
How did we get here?
In the lead up to this bill the government issued a consultation on unauthorised encampments in 2019. Over 70% of the general public who responded thought that the new laws proposed would negatively affect GRT communities, and their health and educational outcomes.
In the ‘Way Forward’ publication the government considers the responses to the consultation. Notably they consider the responses from the Friends and Families and Travellers (FFT) campaign – which made up over 60% of the overall response – separately to those made by the general public and seemingly base their new laws on the responses from the general public only. The new laws outlined have now been absorbed into the new Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing bill.
The FFT submitted Freedom of Information requests to all police forces that received the consultation and found that 75% of police felt current powers were already sufficient and/or proportionate. They also found that 65% of police responses said that lack of site provision was the real problem.
Negotiated stopping is one solution that is offered by local authorities to travellers on unauthorised encampments which involves Local Authority officers making an agreement with Romany, Roma and Travellers on unauthorised encampments. The terms of the agreement can vary depending on the situation but will usually include matters such as correct waste disposal and other things which can be described as ‘good neighbourliness’.
On the 18th of March, the Scottish government announced that £20m of funding is being made available towards improving existing sites and expanding the provision of camps over the next five years.
Harvest and travellers
Romany, Roma, Travellers and nomadic folks have been historically oppressed for centuries. In an attempt to counter this, groups like the FFT are campaigning for the inclusion of Romany, Roma and Traveller histories in the school curriculum following the recommendation from the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in 2020, which you can learn more about yma. Engaging with our collective social history can also help to avoid the othering, misrepresentation and romanticisation that has been instrumental in the oppression of nomadic folks.
Our folk history – through song, poem and story – features Travellers – Romanichals in England; Kalé in Wales; Travellers in Ireland and Scotland – and their connection to the harvest and deep knowledge of livestock husbandry. Surrey has well-established links to the Travelling community; in 1913 the council conducted a ‘censuses of nomads’ providing evidence of ‘seasonal workers described as fruit pickers’ as well documenting traditional crafts like charcoal burning and mechanised activities threshing machine operators.
Kent, has historically had a high population of Romany, Roma and Travellers; farms and the hop harvest needed a large mobile workforce. Berry picking in Scotland saw travelling workforces too as is featured in many folk songs. Daffodil picking in the west country, picking apples in the autumn, all provided work for those on the move. The annual round of farm work began in late spring with and throughout the summer and autumn Romany, Roma and travelling folk moved from farm to farm as each crop needed harvesting.
Traveller’s Perspective
T gives an interesting perspective on travelling communities from 40 years of experience living on the road that doesn’t just focus on the past histories, but suggests that travelling communities are well placed for restorative environmental work that is needed as we respond to the biodiversity and climate crisis.
“The Police Bill encapsulates a prolonged attack on a nomadic way of life and traditional practise, corning those who live nomadically whether that’s through choice or necessity. Over the years, closing off traditional sites – some 80-90% of green lanes once used by travellers have been closed off in the South of England – has meant that travellers are living on bigger sites, for longer durations, nearby towns that are more exposed which only provides further ammunition for the negative public imagination towards travellers since these sites are more visually and environmentally impacting.”
“In response to the nature crisis that we face, we need to restore our environment. This restorative work involves planting trees, hedge laying and land management, work that would favour those who are living nomadically and able to travel to different sites. This seasonal, intensive and skilled labour offers an opportunity for those communities that have traditionally engaged in seasonal work on the land and yet the skills required for this are not being taught to travelling communities. We should provide travellers and nomadic folk the opportunity to engage in meaningful work. Restoring ecosystems should extend to restoring the living conditions of travellers, not criminalise their way of life.”
“Travellers ideologically threaten the status quo of private ownership. Travellers use and share land and have a relationship with land that is outside private ownership. Perhaps if we held this same mindset of sharing the land, we would be better placed to avoid extractivist tendencies, and collectively care for our environment”.
Nomadic folks in the UK have been an important part of the agricultural work force since we’ve needed people to work the land. Now, more than ever, we need people to work and engage in restorative land work to restore our ecosystems. Nomadic folks, with their knowledge and history, are well placed to do this and yet our government seeks to criminalise their way of life. We stand in solidarity with Romany, Roma and Traveller communities.
The Friends, Families and Travellers group are asking people to do what they can to support them; please write to your MP about the new policing bill.
