Dire conditions and death threats: the reality for Gypsies targeted by Howard

Novas Group, a housing association that manages Gypsy and Traveller sites, said Gypsies were more likely to be living “next to motorways, landfill sites, rubbish tips or even sewage farms” than to be invading green belt.

And the chairman of the Gypsy Council said he feared someone would be murdered if the campaign was not toned down.

Measures announced by the Conservative party this week include making Traveller trespass a criminal offence and allowing the courts to levy larger fines to stop Travellers from profiting from illegal developments.

If elected, the party would allow councils to use compulsory purchase powers on land when Gypsies and Travellers have failed to leave after a Stop Notice has been issued.

In an advertisement in the Mail on Sunday, Conservative leader Michael Howard said: “It is not fair that there is one rule for Travellers and another for everyone else.”

But experts said this was more likely to mean Gypsies and Travellers got second-class treatment.

John Wilson, assistant director for Gypsy and Traveller services at Novas, said: “The repeal of the statutory duty in 1994 on local authorities to provide sites to Gypsies and Travellers has led to a state where families up and down the country are living in poor, squalid conditions. Rather than pandering to social bigotry, local communities should get together with Gypsies and Travellers to improve legal site provision.”

Research by the British Medical Association has shown that the travelling community has the lowest life expectancy and the highest child mortality rates of any group in the UK.

Charles Smith, chairman of the Gypsy Council and a commissioner at the Commission for Racial Equality, said the Conservatives’ stance and recent tabloid newspaper campaigns had raised tensions between travelling and settled communities.

He said: “We are getting people insulting Gypsies and refusing them service. There have been death threats and abusive behaviour. That is something we didn’t really get in the past very often. I think it will lead to someone being murdered or someone’s home being burned down, I really do.”

Gareth Crossman, director of policy for civil rights charity Liberty, said: “It is unfortunate that often when we are coming up to a general election, particular groups will find themselves demonised because one or more political parties thinks that it is a vote-winner.”