On Tuesday 7th May from 6pm-7pm UK time (BST) our Deputy Leaders of the Lib Dems, Jo Swinson, will be holding a Q&A session especially for our members living outside the UK - please join us!  You will be able to access this Q&A session on Jo's Facebook page (@joswinson).  Jo will be happy to take questions live or in advance.  If you would like to submit a question in advance, please submit it to Jenny, our deputy chair for Lib Dems Overseas at: jenny.palmer@hotmail.com 

For members and supporters unable to make this time (especially our friends in Asia who will mostly be asleep) - the recording will remain on Jo's Facebook page to watch back at your convenience.  We will also be posting the link to the recording as a News item here afterwards.  So please - do submit questions as your question will be asked even if you are unable to make it on the day.

Members of Lib Dem Overseas met up during January in February at locations across the globe including New York, Cayman, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Brisbane.  A number of our members also joined the People's Vote March on the 23rd March in London.  

Cayman drinks on the 3rd Feb

The 62nd Congress of Liberal International (LI) took place in Dakar, Senegal from 28 to 30 November 2018. Hosted by Senegalese President Macky Sall and his Alliance Pour la République (APR), the congress ‘operationalised’ LI's Andorra Liberal Manifesto with the launch of its Climate Justice Committee, a campaign to liberate wrongfully-imprisoned political leaders around the world, and much more besides. George Cunningham represented Lib Dems Overseas, speaking at the LI Congress on Afghanistan, China and Taiwan as well as joining almost 200 liberals from around the world in signing a pledge to recommit to the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its 70th anniversary this year. LI President El Haité was elected LI's second female president in the organisation's 71-year history and the first from outside of Europe. For more, please see:  https://liberal-international.org/what-we-do/events/congress-meetings/dakar-2018/

On 9-10 November 2018, LDO executive members George Cunningham and Hauwa Usman joined fellow Lib Dems Abroad friends at the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) Annual Congress in Madrid. The British Liberal Democrat Party as a whole fielded a significant 50 person delegation. Lib Dem Leader Vince Cable made a major speech: https://www.libdemvoice.org/watch-vince-cable-tell-europes-liberals-that-brexit-can-be-reversed-59100.html and ALDE adopted its manifesto for the European elections in May 2019. https://www.aldeparty.eu/sites/alde/files/40-Resolutions/2019_freedom_opportunity_prosperity_the_liberal_vision_for_the_future_of_europe.pdf

Chair George Cunningham met up with executive member Chris Bonnet along and Korea Country Coordinator Matthew Spencer recently.  They can be seen here in front of the Seoul Tower after an enjoyable evening of dinner and discussing global liberalism!

Liberal Democrats Abroad officially launched on Sunday 16th September at a well-attended lunchtime event in the Hilton Brighton Metropole.

The party conference was in full swing and many attendees expressed interest in the topics affecting Britons overseasateful if you could illustrate  - especially the need for ‘votes for life’.

I’ve been a member for almost two years and this month I went to a Liberal Democrat conference for the first time.  In fact, I think it is the first time I’ve been to a political conference since my NUS days at university - too many years ago.

This autumn conference took place in Brighton - not too far from where I grew up.  When I think of the Brighton Centre I remember the excitement of being a 7 year old queuing round the corner in the summer that Star Wars opened.  The LibDem conference didn’t quite have the same glamour or special effects but I was impressed.

Hello and welcome to Liberal Democrats Overseas - the section of the party dedicated to members and supports who live outside Europe.  We welcome Brits from all across the world to join us.

Join us for a Facebook Live Event with Lib Dems Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government and MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse.  

Bath's first female member of parliament, Wera will be speaking on a range of subjects including Brexit, immigration, and the future of the party.  Wera will undertake a Q&A taking questions live over Facebook.

Details:

Date: Thursday 4th October

Time: 7.30am - 8.30am EST | 12.30pm - 1.30pm BST | 8.30pm - 9.30pm KST

Facebook page: *** Confirmed as @LibDemsOverseas ***

There will be events held in New York and Seoul - details to follow shortly!

Want to know more about Wera?

Come and join us for our official launch at the Liberal Democrat Autumn conference in Brighton on Sunday 16th September from 1pm to 2pm in the Clarence Room, Hilton Metropole, Brighton.  5.5 million Brits live outside the UK. The Tory Government intends to enfranchise all of voting age. We will campaign for those votes and overseas constituencies.  Liberal Democrats Overseas will be launched by the party's Chair, Baroness Sal Briton.