Conservatives to launch crackdown on traveller lawbreaking
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Leaving the ECHR will allow for tougher measures and stop activist
lawyers obstructing justice Conservatives will end two-tier
treatment of travellers and ensure all planning offences are
punished fairly Labour have buried their heads in the sand, leaving
communities to fend for themselves. New planning policy reforms
will make matters worse. Conservatives will always back law-abiding
residents The Conservatives have today [Monday 17th August]
pledged to...Request free trial
The Conservatives have today [Monday 17th August] pledged to launch a crackdown on illegal traveller sites and tackle unauthorised developments with new freedoms gained by leaving the ECHR. Across the country, communities are forced to tolerate illegal encampments and breaches of planning laws, as well as antisocial behaviour and petty crime, by a small minority of travellers. In many areas, the authorities lack the power and sometimes the will to stand up for local residents and enforce the law. The Conservatives will never sit by and accept criminality going unchecked. That is why we have developed a robust and deliverable plan to end the two-tier treatment of travellers and ensure equality under the law for all communities. Our five-point plan will:
The previous Conservative Government tightened the rules, but laws passed by our Parliament were effectively blocked by the courts because of Human Rights legislation. The democratically elected Government's plans to ban travellers from returning to unauthorised sites within a year were thrown out by judges who claimed they would be discriminatory. The Labour Government including then-Attorney General Lord Hermer capitulated to Strasbourg's diktats, and opted for just a three-month no-return period instead. This is effectively useless, as travellers can simply rotate around a handful of sites in any given area. By leaving the ECHR and scrapping the Human Rights Act, we can go further than the previous Government and impose indefinite returns bans as one of a number of key measures to tackle the problem. New House of Commons research commissioned by the Conservatives reveals that in the two years to January 2026, the number of caravans on unauthorised sites rose by a staggering 1,080 across England. In some areas, the increase has been drastic:
Meanwhile, on some legal sites, travellers are breaking planning rules by installing more caravans than permitted, and getting away with it by successfully applying for retrospective planning permission. Significant breaches of planning law are going unpunished, while minor breaches among the general public are treated much more harshly. This two-tier treatment has to end. Kemi Badenoch has been clear that everyone has to play by the same rules, and while we are a multiracial country, we should not be multicultural. The authorities cannot shy away from enforcing those rules for fear of being accused of racism. The Conservatives are on the side of the vast majority who follow the rules, and we will back them by ensuring that those who break the law are punished. Labour are burying their heads in the sand about this problem. Rather than taking action to confront the problem, they have actually reduced the collection of data about unauthorised sites in an attempt to conceal the facts from the public. They have no intention of acting to support law-abiding residents. In fact, they are making things worse. Labour's changes to the National Planning Policy Framework are exposing the Green Belt and other countryside areas to unauthorised traveller developments. Yet Ministers seem blissfully unaware, and have made no assessment of the impact their reforms will have on the number of traveller sites popping up across weekends and bank holidays, when council offices are shut. At the same time as Burnham forces Middle England to take on illegal migrants, he is exposing local communities to unlawful traveller camps. Conservatives have asked the Government what measures they are taking to improve coordination between councils and police, and why the situation is getting worse on their watch. But Ministers have been unable to provide substantive answers to any of these questions. The Conservatives, unlike Labour, are clear whose side we are on. Our proposals are backed by our commitment to hire 10,000 new police officers and improve neighbourhood policing and our wider mission to take back our streets. Sir James Cleverly MP, Shadow Communities Secretary, said: Communities across our country are forced to put up with lawbreaking by a small minority of travellers. In some areas, illegal sites and unauthorised development of legal sites is having a major negative impact on the local population, and residents feel abandoned. Police and local councils need our backing to intervene and take robust action without fearing they will be tripped up by activist lawfare. With new freedoms gained by leaving the ECHR, we will end the soft-touch approach favoured by Labour and ensure everyone is treated equally under the law. The Conservatives are the only party with a clear and coherent plan to back local communities, end the two-tier treatment of travellers and crack down on criminality. Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: Those who break the rules must be punished. That is a basic principle that must apply equally to all communities. Yet a small minority of travellers are getting away with things we would never tolerate among the wider population. It's time for tough action to get this problem under control. Our plan will give the authorities the backing they need to crack down on traveller lawbreaking, putting local residents first and ensuring equality before the law. We are the only Party with the leadership and the viable plan to do that. |