WITH reference to the article “Nonsensical debate condemned by MP” (Echo page 7, October 11).

I work with the gypsy and traveller community in County Durham and can understand where North West Durham MP Laura Pidcock is coming from when she says gypsies and travellers are part of our community and therefore part of our constituency and should be treated as so. This I agree with.

What I do not agree with is the claim that the gypsy and traveller community are “not a unified group” and that “there is not one community we can talk about,” according to Ms Pidcock. This is completely wrong.

Gypsies and travellers are a community in their own right, with their own ethnicity, their own culture, language and traditions and their own identity.

Many live completely different lifestyles to many Echo readers.

Perhaps Ms Pidcock should take a look at her own constituents before making such claims.

C Grime, Crook