The final preparations are underway at ACC Liverpool as the venue gears up for the start of the Labour Party Annual Conference later this week.
More than 11,000 delegates will descend on the city for the five day gathering which will take place across the entire ACC Liverpool campus – BT Convention Centre, Echo Arena and Exhibition Centre Liverpool. The adjoining hotel, Pullman Liverpool, will operate as the headquarters hotel for the conference.
The event begins on Saturday September 24 with the leadership announcement and the National Women’s Conference. A 150-stand exhibition will take place in Exhibition Centre Liverpool with around 300 fringe events in the venue and across the city. It will be the largest conference to date to take place at ACC Liverpool since opening in 2008.
Iain McNicol, Labour’s general secretary, said: “The Labour Party is delighted to be returning to the great city of Liverpool with our Annual Conference. We are looking forward to welcoming our thousands of delegates, visitors and guests to the impressive ACC Liverpool for what will be an exciting few days, kicking off with our announcement of the results of our Leadership election on Saturday.”
ACC Liverpool is working closely with Merseyside Police, Liverpool Convention Bureau and Liverpool City Council to co-ordinate all aspects of the city’s preparation for this complex event. The Labour party conference first came to the city in September 2011 which was the biggest political event to have ever come to Liverpool, contributing £15m to the local economy.
Bob Prattey, chief executive of The ACC Liverpool Group, said: “This is one of the largest and most high profile political events in Europe. The return of the conference, following a successful outing in 2011, and confirmation that it will come back to us not only this year but again in 2018, is an immense vote of confidence in both the venue and the city.
“We will be utilising our entire campus for this event, which is our largest conference to date. All of our teams will be working to ensure that it is once again a success.”
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “The 2016 conference is expected to generate £17m in economic benefit to our city region and is the most important date in Labour’s political calendar. We expect a vibrant atmosphere across the city with delegates filling our hotels, restaurants, bars and shops.
“Staging a major international event requires considerable team efforts for all involved and the planning has brought key organisations from the region together over several years. We look forward to seeing it come to fruition later this week.”
ACC Liverpool is ideally located for high-security events of this nature, being effectively surrounded by water on three sides which creates a secure campus site and enables it to lockdown quickly and efficiently.