LONDON, March 21 (UPI) -- Conservative leader Michael Howard has unveiled a package of measures to crackdown on illegal gypsy encampments, drawing accusations of reacting to bigotry and comparisons to Nazi policies.
Howard angrily denied suggestions Monday he was exploiting a vein of racism in British society, attacking what he called "vulgar abuse" from the media and politicians over the issue.
He maintained he was simply responding to the public's concerns, telling a London press conference: "What we are concerned about is making life better for the people of our country, and having a country where everyone plays by the rules, and the same rules apply to everyone."
In a series of advertisements in Sunday newspapers, Howard had said: "If you want to build a new home you have to get planning permission first. But if you are a traveler you can bend planning law -- building where you like thanks to the Human Rights Act. It's not fair that there's one rule for travelers and another for everyone else."
Under the Conservatives' plan, local councils would be given new powers to ensure the rapid removal of caravans from illegal sites, and courts would have powers to levy larger fines. Authorities would be able to purchase land compulsorily where there had been repeated breaches of notices prohibiting illegal camps, and local people would be given a greater say in where camps go.
Trespassing by travelers would be made an offense, and, most controversially, the Human Rights Act would be amended or even repealed to ensure it could not be used to resist police attempts to remove unauthorized settlements.
The Conservatives say the Human Rights Act helps travelers to abuse the rules and puts the interests of criminal "chancers" before hard-working members of the public.
The government denied that the act had changed the way in which planning laws were applied, while the Liberal Democrats accused the Tories of opportunism.
Planning Minister Keith Hill said Sunday the Tories were "tapping into the biggest vein of bigotry -- prejudice against Gypsies and travelers."
The Liberal Democrats' shadow local government secretary, Ed Davey, said: "Michael Howard's bandwagon opportunism has led him into hypocrisy of new heights.
"As home secretary, it was Michael Howard who did most to reduce the number of legal traveler sites."
He added that Tory spokesmen had been "welcoming new changes to planning laws" and the Conservative leader was either "misinformed or stoking fear and prejudice."
The government announced plans earlier this month to oblige local authorities to provide legal traveler sites where needed, and to increase powers of enforcement against illegal settlements.
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said as the shortage of authorized sites was leading directly to development on problem sites, "the two things have to go hand in hand."
There are an estimated 90,000 to 120,000 travelers in Britain, around 30 percent of whom live on illegal sites. Government figures put the shortfall of authorized sites at around 4,500.
However the Conservatives say the government is giving a green light to travelers to abuse planning laws.
Shadow Secretary for Local and Devolved Government Affairs Caroline Spelman alleged Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott had told councils to "go easy" on illegal encampments, while Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles attacked the plans as a "trespasser's charter."
Howard acknowledged there was a shortfall in sites but said gypsies could apply for planning permission like anyone else.
It was Michael Howard who in 1994, while home secretary, removed the obligation on councils to provide legal camps. He denies, however, that it was this change which led to the rise in illegal settlements, insisting it is the Human Rights Act which has allowed travelers to "openly abuse" planning rules, citing the right to family life, for example, in challenges to orders for them to leave sites.
"There are too many in Britain today who hide behind so-called human rights to justify doing the wrong thing," he said.
"'I've got my rights' has become the verbal equivalent of two fingers to authority. The rights culture has blurred the difference between right and wrong and it's taking Britain in the wrong direction."
It is not the first time Howard has been accused of playing the race card during his campaign. His proposals for restricting immigration and introducing mandatory HIV/AIDS testing for non-European Union migrants prompted accusations he was pandering to prejudicial elements within British society.
On Monday, Howard reacted angrily to press suggestions he was deliberately targeting minority groups outside the mainstream of society.
The issue had nothing to do with racism but was about "standing up for the right values" and common sense, he claimed.
Others did not agree. Gypsy and Traveler Law Reform Coalition coordinator Andrew Ryder said Howard was trying to "surf on the prejudice and hysteria stoked up" by the media and "score some cheap political points in the run-up to the election."
Labor lawmaker Kevin MacNamara, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on traveler law reform, said if the obligation to provide legal sites had not been removed, there wouldn't be such a shortfall now.
The law couldn't just be a "blanket," he said, but had to take into account the differing needs of various sections of society.
The Tory plans "smack of racism" and were singling out a particular minority, he told the BBC. The voters would take note of Howard's political opportunism, he said.
Romas are still persecuted throughout Europe, he said, and seen as an easy target on which to blame the ills of society.
Adding what were perhaps the strongest words yet to the debate, he told the BBC there was "a whiff of the gas chambers about this."
Gypsy groups reacted with similar alarm, comparing Howard's policies to those introduced by the Nazis before shipping them to concentration camps.
The Conservatives' move follows campaigns in the Sun and Daily Mail newspapers attacking the government over illegal gypsy encampments, coverage described by the Commission for Racial Equality as "vitriolic."
The commission has warned against "vilifying" gypsies, saying they have become the last minority it is still socially acceptable to discriminate against.
Britain, like most of Europe, had a long history of persecuting gypsies. In 1530, under Henry VIII, a law was passed to expel them. Any gypsies found trying to enter the country were hung.
Edward VI 17 years later had gypsies branded with a "V" and made slaves. The 1650s saw the last execution of gypsies, and by the 18th century many laws against Gypsies had been revoked, but prejudice remained.
On Monday, Howard denied he was jumping on a tabloid bandwagon, saying the media had simply caught up with a problem the Conservatives had been talking about all along.
