Maintaining a nomadic lifestyle is vital to a small number of ethnic groups throughout the world. Irish Travellers, and Romany Gypsies have a long and proud history in Britain. We caught up with Romani Journalist and Co- Founder of the Drive to Survive campaign Jake Bowers, to find out more about the campaign leading the fight against the U.K. government’s new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which is set to erode Romany and Traveller customs, and subject the communities to disproportionate policing.

Jake Bowers says; “It poses the greatest threat to our culture in my lifetime – it effectively tries to eradicate the remaining forms of nomadism in this country.” The new Police Crime and Courts Sentencing Bill will stop people residing in any vehicle without consent. If we disobey the law outlined in the bill it will have far-reaching consequences for generations to come – you can be fined up to £2,500, homes can be confiscated, and you can potentially receive a three-month prison sentence. He added, “We are the canary in the coal mine of liberty make no mistake, they are trying to eradicate our culture.

We need to say loud and clear that we are not going to be pushed into the history books. We are not going anywhere at all..The whole point of the ‘Drive to survive’ campaign is to put an adrenaline shock into the arms of our politics and culture and link up with great allies.”

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