In 2017, openDemocracy revealed that Ross had said during an interview with Double Down News that his number one priority were he prime minister for the day would be “tougher enforcement against Gypsy/Travellers”. He later apologised for saying it would be his top priority.
Earlier this week, openDemocracy also revealed that, while Ross was a local councillor and chair of Moray’s planning committee in 2013, he ran a campaign against a Traveller site on private land in Moray. When the Scottish government approved the site, he said: “I am disappointed and frustrated that we seem to have to bend over backwards for this ethnic minority.”
In 2010, Ross voiced opposition to a different Traveller site on the grounds that it was too far from urban centres, saying “I have concerns about the ability to manage and control the site if it is in a more remote and rural area.” But in 2013, his committee ruled that Traveller sites would not be allowed within a kilometre of existing settlements, a policy described to openDemocracy by Tammi as “apartheid”.
However, the newly released emails show that Ross continued to use his power to target Travellers after he was elected an MP.
“To see this correspondence in black and white is truly shocking,” said Davie Donaldson, a Traveller from Angus, in east Scotland, responding to openDemocracy’s latest revelation.
“To request the physical eviction of families solely based on their ethnicity and the fact that they are ‘visible’ is heart-wrenching beyond measure.
“Gypsy/Travellers have lived, worked and contributed to Moray for centuries – they have as much right as anyone to be ‘visible’.”
He added: “It is an MP’s role to represent all of their constituents, especially those already marginalised – not to further exclude and stoke the fires of prejudice.
“Sadly this correspondence is telling of the often institutionalised prejudice held toward Gypsy/Travellers”.
Donaldson also praised a Moray Council staff member who replied to Ross’s email, saying that the email exchange “also shows a local authority standing up to bigotry”.
