This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

Campaigners for US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders have been lending their support to the Labour party, running phone-banking sessions from New York ahead of the general election.

The city’s branch of Labour International has been working with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), who have been calling British campaigners with tips on how to encourage people to register to vote and cast a ballot for Labour at the December poll.

The DSA endorses and campaigns for Sanders, who is running to be the Democratic presidential candidate for a second time after losing out to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

A spokesperson for Momentum, the grassroots Labour campaign group, said: “This is part of a growing relationship between Bernie, DSA activists and Momentum and Labour members abroad that has included exchanges between the nurses’ unions of the US and the UK to campaign on public health in the US.

“Many Labour International and Momentum members have been volunteers on Sanders’ campaign and so the favour’s being returned.”

Canvassing sessions run by the US volunteers for Momentum campaigners in the UK on Saturdays are an attempt to support grassroots activism and turn out the vote for Labour.

Campaigners from Sanders’ team have previously run election training sessions for activists working on Corbyn’s 2017 election run to try to help direct the huge volume of volunteers the organisation attracts to the right constituencies. They have also shared digital campaigning methods.

The Labour International and DSA volunteers have also been running phone-banking sessions from Chicago, Toronto, Louisville and San Francisco.

The New York sessions are also being supported by overseas members of the Party of European Socialists, who have helped to source office space for canvassing sessions.



In Germany, where there are 16,000 British people registered to vote in the capital, Berlin, volunteers have been canvassing for Labour in bars and cafes as well as speaking to Britons at English-language events and talking to university students.

Momentum supporters in Paris have been leafleting Eurostar’s British customers ahead of voter registration closing. New Labour International groups have set up in southern France for the first time this election, with campaigners meeting in cities such as Lyon to try and turn out the expat vote.

The international campaigning effort for Labour comes as Momentum claims its work could swing the election. It has encouraged more than 100,000 people to register to vote since the beginning of the campaign through Facebook adverts, including at least 87,000 in marginal constituencies.

Of the 101,422 so far who may have registered via Momentum’s voter registration adverts, it claims the majority were younger voters – below the age of 35 – in key marginal constituencies.

Momentum has been targeting young people in marginals with viral videos such as “We Don’t Want Your Vote” – viewed 1.1m times on Facebook – and “Please Don’t Vote”.

Laura Parker, Momentum’s national coordinator, said: “All the polls are based on the assumption that young people and those who haven’t voted before won’t bother turning out. But this election we are seeing record numbers register to vote – including nearly 100,000 whom we have encouraged to register in marginal constituencies, which could swing the election.”