A BOURNEMOUTH MP has said he ‘will not be silenced’ after a charity accused him of ‘perpetuating racist rhetoric’.

Sir Conor Burns was reported to the Parliamentary Standards Commission by The Traveller Movement, after he posted a video on social media about the proposed traveller site at Branksome Triangle.

In the video, the Bournemouth West MP said the proposal was unsuitable to accommodate ‘the so-called settled Gypsy and traveller community’.

He said residents would not expect ‘the local council to decide who our neighbours are going to be, but that’s exactly what’s going to happen, potentially’.

Sir Conor said in the video: “I'm not saying they shouldn't have a site.

“I'm saying, in agreement, I think, with many local residents, that this site here in the middle of this residential area is not the right place.”

The group, which represents the Romani, Roma and Irish traveller community, said his comments ‘fanned the flames of racism’, while accusing him of ‘inciting discrimination’.

Responding to the criticism, the Telegraph reported Sir Conor as saying: “I will fully cooperate with any investigation into anything I have said.

“I will not, however, be silenced from raising legitimate issues on behalf of my constituents or opposing any planning proposals that I judge not in their interests, especially in the face of politically motivated attempts to mute the voice of a local MP.”

As reported, the site was one of a number of sites looked at for the proposals.

The Traveller Movement’s CEO, Yvonne MacNamara, in a letter to Rochard Holden, the chair of the Conservative Party, said: “The content of the video spoke of Romani (Gypsies) and Irish travellers as if they were second-class citizens.

“The member for Bournemouth West stated that he did not believe that the new Gypsy traveller site should be located in the Branksome Triangle because it is a ‘residential area’.

“We question whether Mr Conor Burns would make such statements about other protected groups, for example Jewish and black communities.”

Pauline Melvin-Anderson, head of trustees at the charity, said: "The whole tone of the video is that Gypsies and travellers are a problem to be solved rather than people, individuals, families, valued members of society.

"Particularly, saying there shouldn't be any settled site in a residential area is really, really worrying.

"What it is implying is that people from our community shouldn't be living alongside people from other ethnicities, that we should be living completely separately - out of sight, out of mind."

Earlier in February, the charity urged the Standards Commission to ‘thoroughly investigate this matter’.

The charity said on social media that it was yet to receive a response from the Conservatives or Sir Conor.