Last week The Portugal News launched a campaign aimed at lobbying the UK government to return Portugal to the green list of travel destinations. As part of this campaign we emailed every MP in the UK to ask them to reconsider the decision, while also asking our readers to do the same.

We believe that many of our British readers have the right to ask their MP to represent their views in Parliament regarding the recent removal of Portugal from the green list, while taking into account that almost all the ‘facts’ regarding the decision have been called into question. There are far fewer cases of the India variant in Portugal and INSA microbiologist João Paulo Gomes, at the time of the announcement, noted that in Portugal only 12 cases of the so-called Indian variant of Covid-19 had been detected and not 68 cases, as announced by the UK.

So far our readers (at the time of going to press) have sent a total of 2,427 letters to MP’s in the UK to help keep the pressure up regarding the situation.

Publisher of The Portugal News, Paul Luckman said in his letter to the MPs: “Hundreds of UK citizen owned companies, large and small, are facing severe financial problems due to the UK’s action which has brought the travel industry to its knees. Four million UK citizens visit Portugal every year and are being deprived of their holidays not to mention hard earned savings due to the inexcusable, aggressive overtly political action by the UK Government. The UK has always supported fairness and justice, neither are being shown here, just pure political opportunism”.

The Minister of Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro Siza Vieira, has spoken this week about continuing with a dialogue with the UK government regarding removing Portugal from the amber list. Speaking at Faro airport, he highlighted the importance of ensuring security conditions and said that he was sure that “on the day the English government allows the English to travel again without restrictions, we know that they will return to the Algarve”.

Pedro Siza Vieira went on to assure that the Government has “systematically ensured a dialogue” with their English counterparts to clarify the health situation in Portugal, the vaccination plan, how the variants are monitored and how the situation is being controlled.

“The decision that the English Government takes in relation to Portugal is the one it takes in relation to all the countries of the European Union. We keep governments informed and governments make their decisions,” he pointed out.
For the minister, the “most important thing” is to ensure that for all other markets it is possible to “create all the conditions that people can visit our country”.

Lobbying your MP in the UK is simple and fast, simply visit here and follow the quick and easy instructions: https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2021-06-07/lobby-your-mp-to-put-portugal-on-the-green-list/60281