Blackpool hopes for national Labour conference

After successfully hosting the Labour Party's regional conference for the seventh consecutive year, Blackpool has expressed interest in hosting the flagship national event.

The resort lasted hosted the event in 2002, and it has since taken places in a number of towns and cities, commonly Liverpool or Brighton.

However, spearheaded by the development of a new £25m conference centre, Visit Blackpool tourism manager Mandy Tythe McCallum says its time for the event to return to Lancashire.

She said: "It was important for us to have a presence at the North West conference that enabled us to engage with key people from the Labour Party to discuss a return to Blackpool for the national conference during their next open year.

“Jeremy Corbyn MP said that he would support a bid to see a return to the resort and looked forward to hearing how Blackpool could deliver a successful national Labour Party conference.”

The North West Labour Party Conference, which took place on 4th and 5th November, is organised for party members in the North West to discuss policy ideas and plan campaigns.

The conference has grown every year with over 1,000 visitors attending speeches and fringe events.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed members and attended along with the shadow chancellor John McDonnell, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry and other regional leaders and MPs. Councillor Simon Blackburn, leader of Blackpool Council opened the conference and welcomed delegates at the Hilton Hotel Blackpool. He said: “What a great opportunity it was not just for myself to welcome delegates, but also to showcase what we have to offer in resort, particularly highlighting the plans for the new conference centre.”