Not a birth right

June is Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller History Month. It is an annual awareness event, established in Britain in 2008 as a way of deepening the understanding of these communities, celebrating Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) contributions to society, and offsetting negative stereotyping and prejudices.

66 percent of our current Big Issue North vendors are Romanian. An additional 6 percent of vendors are from countries including Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Latvia, and Italy. Many of them identify as Roma. 

As an organisation that closely works with Roma people and migrant groups, Big Issue North Trust is acutely aware of the challenges those from these (often misunderstood) communities face daily.

The increase in non-British vendors is in part due to the rise in migration of Roma people from Romania and Eastern Europe. To a long-persecuted community, the UK once offered a more favourable environment than the Eastern European countries that they have left – particularly Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.  

“I have lived here in England for five years. I came here because Romania is no good – no work, no benefits, no nothing…” says Eugenia, a vendor who works in Garforth. “I need to work, to pay rent, buy food, buy clothes and I send some money home to my mum because life is very hard over there. My mum has nothing there. 

“Here in England, people have good hearts…those people who help me and who buy the magazine from me. I love my customers. They are good people.” 

Yet, just last month, the Council of Europe (the leading human rights organisation on the continent) reported that there are “troublingly persistent” levels of discrimination against GRT in the UK. 

At Big Issue North, we receive derogatory comments and enquiries from members of the public, questioning vendors’ right to sell Big Issue magazines based on their backgrounds. Our vendors’ positive experiences and interactions with their customers, as described by Eugenia, are almost systematically joined by reports of abuse and racism from others.   

The core of the discrimination we see comes from negative public perceptions related to Roma people. Most commonly, the misguided belief that Roma people personify a parasitic (or sometimes criminal) lifestyle, having simply migrated here to “exploit our systems” and our “too-soft” laws.  

Often overlooked is the fact that our systems are incredibly difficult to access and navigate, let alone exploit. The EU Settlement Scheme, for example, is entirely reliant on digital know-how. Visiting the Gov.uk website to start an attempt to gain or access your settlement status requires a considerable degree of computer literacy and English proficiency.  

64 percent of vendors do not speak English as a first language. Only 15 percent of non-British vendors hold formal qualifications, compared to 50 percent of our British vendors. A quarter of Roma vendors do not have a phone, and of those who do, only half have a smartphone, and few can pay for 3G or 4G, limiting their internet access.  

Our recent digital inclusion campaign worked to highlight these divisions and barriers for marginalised people in accessing what many of us would class as basic support, including health and housing services. The experience of our vendors shows the impact of not being able to access these systems. Our 2019 audit found that non-British vendors are more likely to experience homelessness, with 8 percent of those vendors being homeless due to being newer to the country.  

Where someone was born shouldn’t interfere with their right to improve their life. Yet, the prejudices most often leveraged against “foreign“ people, and in particular Roma people, swell from this idea that they are taking something from British people – from people who, by their chanced birthplace, deserve it more.  

Where someone was born shouldn’t interfere with their right to improve their life. But the prejudices most often leveraged against “foreign“ people, and in particular Roma people, swell from this idea that they are taking something from British people – from people who, by their chanced birthplace, deserve it more.  

In the instance of our vendors, this is not the case. We have more pitches than we have vendors. We welcome anyone from any background who wants a chance to be self-employed and earn an income. British or non-British.   

Similarly, the money that any of our vendors spend on buying magazines to sell is reinvested in the services Big Issue North provides. This includes health, wellbeing, financial, housing, employment, and legal advice and signposting.  

“I think people are looking at me and thinking if I am good or no good,” adds Eugenia, “[but] this is a good job. My husband also sells the magazine… we don’t have any benefits or anything, this is how we earn money.” 

Through your support, we want to help those in our region who need it the most, offering vulnerable and marginalized people the chance to make positive life changes. Every time you stop to buy a magazine, subscribe to the Street News app, or donate to Big Issue North Trust, you are making a real difference to someone in your community.