Monmouth: Welsh Secretary David TC Davies faces no action over Gypsy and Traveller leaflet

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies will not be facing any action by police after a leaflet asking about a proposed Gypsy and Traveller site was sent to his constituents.

It comes after Gwent Police announced they would be reviewing the contents of the leaflet sent by the Monmouth MP after it was described as "dangerous" and "outrageous" by campaign groups.

Mr Davies argued the issue was a "legitimate matter for public debate."

Chief Superintendent Carl Williams said: "We launched a review into the contents of a leaflet published and distributed in Monmouthshire regarding proposals for a development of a gypsy and traveller site."

“Officers have spoken to several people from the gypsy and traveller and settled communities before seeking advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on whether the leaflet’s contents constituted any offences.

“Any allegation of discrimination is taken extremely seriously and following this review, we will not be taking any further action.”

In a statement, the Conservative MP had said the “location of sites was a legitimate matter for public debate."

“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", he had added.

It was the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller advice and advocacy service,Travelling Ahead, who first raised concerns about the Conservative leaflet via Twitter.

Its project manager, Trudy Aspinwall, described what she thought was a "direct discriminatory, racist leaflet".

She said: "Our concern when we saw it was that there was a deliberate targeting of Gypsy and Travellers in terms of rousing up concerns about sites that Gypsies and Travellers have been waiting for for some time in Monmouthshire".

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