A UK border control checkpoint (file photo)
A
number of Members of the British Parliament have called on politicians to end
the rhetoric against Roma migrants as it is inflaming community tensions.
MPs on the all-parliamentary party group for Gypsy Roma
Travellers urged British politicians to engage in "calm dialogue with
local communities and an end to deliberately inflammatory language intended to
stoke up community tension".
The intervention came after Philippa Roe, Conservative
leader of Westminster City Council, warned on Tuesday that some incoming
Romanian and Bulgarian migrants could escalate existing problems in the UK,
including “aggressive begging, and pick pocketing.”
However, Andrew George, a Liberal Democrat MP and
chairman of the all-parliamentary party group, told The Guardian that Roma
communities were suffering "collateral damage" and extra
discrimination in an “environment of deep prejudice”.
When Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union
(EU) in 2007, Britain and several other countries imposed restrictions on the
new members’ access to their labour markets.
Migrants from the two eastern European countries can
work without restrictions across the bloc from today as transitional controls
are lifted.
This comes amid a growing row over the British
Conservatives’ proposals to tighten up welfare rules for migrants from the EU
and escalating concerns over an influx of Romanians and Bulgarians to the UK.
SSM/NN
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