Liverpool city centre’s economy benefits to the tune of more than £30m as the ‘biggest-ever’ Labour Party conference and its 20,000 delegates rolled into town. Tony McDonough reports
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s “sausages” gaffe prompted smiles on the Labour Conference floor and the party’s return to the city has put a broad grin on the faces of city centre businesses.
Early estimates from the Liverpool Convention Bureau show the five-day event, held at the waterfront ACC Liverpool venue, has boosted the city centre economy by more than £30m thanks to a record-breaking attendance of 20,000 delegates.
It was the third consecutive year the conference had come to Liverpool. Last year the event was estimated to have generated around £29m for businesses such as hotels, bars, restaurants and leisure attractions. The conference is set to return again in 2025.
Labour took over the entire events campus including ACC Liverpool, Exhibition Centre Liverpool and the M&S Bank Arena. More than 600 fringe events, keynote speeches and networking opportunities took place over the five days.
The exhibition centre housed a 2,200-seat auditorium for plenary sessions in addition to Labour’s largest exhibition ever. The arena was divided into individual meeting spaces with the concourse transformed into a delegate engagement zone.
The interconnected Pullman Liverpool operated as the headquarters hotel for the conference.
This year, the Labour Party have also supported ACC Liverpool’s efforts to further increase the biodiversity of their campus. Delegates paid a small fee to compensate for the carbon emissions associated with their attendance.
Thanks to this carbon emission fee a third beehive has now been added to the existing two that were installed on the campus in May this year.
Faye Dyer, chief executive of The ACC Liverpool Group, said: “It has been a pleasure to welcome the Labour Party and their delegates back to our venue for the third consecutive year.
“The whole city works together to organise and deliver a major conference of this scale. Planning for an event of this size takes months and we have worked in partnership with Merseyside Police and our city partners to deliver a safe and successful event.”
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Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner added: “We are proud to host our conference in Liverpool and appreciate how much work goes into organising an event on this scale, especially as we are now the party in power.
“Our thanks go out to the team at ACC Liverpool and their partners for making it such a successful event. We look forward to coming again next year.”