Branch area: Portugal

Number of members: 41

Email: li-portugal@labourinternational.net

Elected officers:

• Secretary: Anne Greenslade
• Chair: Sharon Wilkinson
• Vice Chair: Malcolm Millais
• Treasurer: Charles James
• GC delegate: Alex Cookman

Meetings:

• Regular branch meetings: monthly, second Sunday
• AGM 2020: January on Zoom
• Annual lunch meeting: Oct/Nov Lisbon

About Our Branch

Portugal branch was established in the summer of 2018 with just 4 members, out of a branch total of 35, to form the first committee. Alan provided the support and guidance to start us off and we were soon joined at regular meetings by several other members.
We immediately made the decision to use our meetings for political discussion, to limit them to 1 hour, and to share email addresses in an informal ‘forum’ to continue conversations between meetings.

The branch has maintained approx. 20% attendance at meetings, hosted several guest speakers and drafted motions which have been carried through LIGC. The forum enables us to share and develop ideas in greater depth than a single monthly meeting allows.

Our members are located all over Portugal, so necessarily we meet on Zoom; but we all get together at least once a year in Lisbon for lunch.

During the 2019 general election members campaigned for Labour in a variety of ways; phone banking, text banking and research via Momentum and Dialogue, social media, and on doorsteps in UK constituencies. Most of us live too far apart to work together, except for the Lisbon members, but others campaigned separately

Today we have 41 members, three of whom hold offices in LIEC while others, including our delegate, regularly attend GC meetings and write for the Newsletter.

There is also a Lisbon Group dedicated to promoting and campaigning for the Labour party. This group meets every month in one of the Lisbon cafes for discussions, film viewings and campaign planning.