Liverpool
has been chosen to host the 2026 Labour Party Conference, making it the fifth
consecutive year the event has been held in the city.
The news follows the success of this year's conference, and previous years, reinforcing the
city’s position as the preferred host for the party’s annual gathering.
The
event has been hosted by Liverpool a total of seven times. In addition to this
year’s outing, the Labour Party conference has taken place at the venue in
2011, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The 2026 conference will once again take
place at ACC Liverpool, bringing thousands of delegates, media representatives
and visitors to the city in what has become a landmark occasion on the city’s
calendar. City leaders have hailed the announcement as a testament to
Liverpool’s reputation as a world-class destination and a welcoming host for
major national events.
This year’s conference took over the
waterfront events campus including the convention centre, Exhibition Centre
Liverpool and the M&S Bank Arena, and included more than 700 on-site fringe
events, keynote speeches and networking opportunities. The four-day event is
estimated to have generated over £30 million economic impact.
The exhibition centre housed a 2,200-seat
auditorium for plenary sessions in addition to more than 100 exhibitors. The arena
was divided into individual meeting spaces and break-out zones, and the
interconnected Pullman Liverpool operated as the headquarters hotel for the
conference.
This year, the Labour Party was
presented with the first harvest of honey from the on-site beehives. The hives,
introduced following last year’s conference through delegates’ carbon offset
contributions, are now well established and contributing to local biodiversity.
Sharing the honey with the client was a simple but meaningful way to show the
positive results of their support for the venue’s sustainability initiatives.
Faye Dyer, chief executive of The ACC
Liverpool Group, said: “We were delighted to host the
Labour Party Conference here in Liverpool again and are proud that the event has
been such a great success. This reflects the strength of partnership working
across multiple agencies, including Merseyside Police and our city partners.
The seamless coordination ensured a safe and high-quality experience for
delegates and visitors, while positioning Liverpool prominently on the national
stage as a leading host for major events.”
Steve Rotheram, mayor of the
Liverpool City Region, said: ““Liverpool has firmly
established itself as the premier destination for one of the biggest events in
the country’s political calendar. To be chosen to host the annual conference
for a fifth consecutive year is a huge vote of confidence in our city’s ability
to deliver on the national stage.
The event brings thousands
of visitors, international media and major economic benefits – but it also
gives us the chance to showcase the very best of Liverpool: a world-class city
that is welcoming, ambitious and proud of what it has to offer.”
ACC Liverpool has welcomed thousands of
delegates through its doors this year to a wide variety of conferences
including the Airmic Annual Conference, The British Orthopaedic Association,
National Housing Association, The International Festival of Neuroscience, and Royal
College of Nursing.
