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Party conference season
Annual period in UK politics From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In the United Kingdom the party conference season is a period of three weeks during September and October of each year, whilst the House of Commons is in recess, in which the annual political party conferences are held.
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 | This article should be written as a table. (August 2024) |
The Conservative Party Conference, Labour Party Conference and the twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, representing the three largest UK-wide political parties, in terms of seats held, hold their main annual conferences in the autumn. These occur in reverse order to this list, and remains the order regardless as to which party is in government.
In contrast to its main opponents' conferences,[1][2] the Liberal Democrats grant all party members attending its conference, either in-person or online,[3] the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system.[4][5] Among the three largest UK-wide parties, the Liberal Democrat conference is also unique in providing a ring-fenced access fund,[6] which defrays travel and accommodation costs for both disabled and low-income attendees.[7]
UK-wide political party conferences have traditionally taken place in seaside resorts, at places such as the Empress Ballroom at Winter Gardens in Blackpool, the Brighton Centre in Brighton and the Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth, largely due to there being plenty of cheap accommodation available in such towns at the end of the summer holiday season. However, for the two largest parties, they are increasingly taking place in major cities with modern, purpose-built conference centres, such as the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham, the Central Convention Complex in Manchester and the Arena and Convention Centre (ACC) in Liverpool.[8]
Conferences for the devolved Scottish and Welsh parties of the UK-wide Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties are held in March, while the Scottish Green Party holds two conferences each year – a one-day policy event alongside the devolved conferences in March and a two or three day main conference during the main conference season.
There is an unofficial agreement between the parties that they will stagger the timing of their conferences such that media attention be undivided, though smaller parties do not always abide by this rule firmly. In 2012, for example, there was an overlap between the Liberal Democrat and United Kingdom Independence Party annual conferences, with the latter concluding on the opening day of the former, and in 2013 the Liberal Democrat and Green Party of England and Wales conferences overlapped by three days.
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Television coverage
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Until the second half of the 1980s, with the exception of a mid-morning break for Play School, BBC television had broadcast live, uninterrupted coverage of all of the party conferences, as well as the Trades Union Congress and the CBI conference. However, the commencement of daytime television in October 1986, and with it an extended children's programming block, meant that the mid-morning interruption extended to 40 minutes from 1987 onwards, with further coverage breaks for hourly news summaries, with the notable exception of the Trades Union Congress which was shown on BBC2 due to it taking place before the commencement of the new term's schools broadcasts. Subsequent years saw coverage on BBC TV continue to be gradually reduced.
1992 saw the launch of The Parliamentary Channel and live, uninterrupted coverage of the three main party conferences was broadcast, without commentary or interviews. This continued after BBC Parliament took over the service in 1998. However, cutbacks at BBC Parliament saw it drop all of its political programming with the channel reduced to nothing other than live and recorded coverage from Westminster and the devolved chambers[9][10] and 2019 was the final time that BBC Parliament aired coverage of the coverage of the party conferences. This now means that linear television no longer provides significant coverage, with live coverage on BBC Two restricted to the party leaders’ speeches of the three main political parties.
Until the early 1980s, ITV, and then, for a short while, Channel 4, also showed coverage. ITV and Channel 4's coverage is now restricted to its scheduled news bulletins.
On radio, coverage was restricted to clips in scheduled news bulletins. However, the launch of BBC Radio 5 Live in 1994 saw the first live radio coverage, which includes the live broadcast of the leaders' speeches.
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2025 conference season
The dates for the 2025 conferences are as follows:
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2024 conference season
The dates for the 2024 conferences were as follows:
2023 conference season
After 2022’s cancellation of the Liberal Democrats Party Conference in Brighton due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the 2023 edition of the Liberal Democrats Party Conference returned to Bournemouth for the first time, with the dates for the 2023 conferences were as follows:
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2022 conference season
Following the Death of Elizabeth II, the Liberal Democrats cancelled their planned conference whilst Trades Union Congress rescheduled theirs, both as a mark of respect to the Queen. The dates and locations for the 2022 conferences were as follows:
- Liberal Democrats - Brighton Centre - Planned Saturday 17 September to Tuesday 20 September (cancelled)
- Labour - ACC Liverpool - Sunday 25 September to Wednesday 28 September
- Green Party of England and Wales - Harrogate Convention Centre - Friday 30 September to Sunday 2 October
- Reform UK - Birmingham - Sunday 2 October
- Conservatives - International Convention Centre, Birmingham - Sunday 2 October to Wednesday 5 October
- Trades Union Congress - Brighton Centre - Tuesday 18 October to Thursday 20 October (originally Sunday 11 September)
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2021 conference season
The Party conferences largely reverted back to physical attendance following their cancellation the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but some parties opted to keep their conferences online and some opted for a mix of both, with the dates and locations as follows:
- Trades Union Congress - Online Only - Sunday 12 September to Tuesday 14 September
- Liberal Democrats - Online Only - Friday 17 September to Monday 20 September
- Labour - Brighton Centre - Saturday 25 September to Wednesday 29 September[20]
- Conservatives - Manchester Central Convention Complex - Sunday 3 October to Wednesday 6 October.
- Plaid Cymru - Aberystwyth Arts Centre - Friday 15 October to Saturday 16 October
- Green Party of England and Wales - The Eastside Rooms, Birmingham - Friday 22 October to Sunday 24 October
- Reform UK - Manchester - 1 October to 2 October
- Scottish National Party - Online Only - Friday 26 November to Monday 29 November
- UK Independence Party (UKIP) - The Dome, Worthing, East Sussex - Sunday 17 October - Monday 18 October
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2020 conference season
The dates and locations of the 2020 conferences were planned to be as follows:
- Labour – Saturday 19 September to Wednesday 23 September at the ACC Liverpool[21]
- Liberal Democrats – Saturday 26 September to Tuesday 29 September at the Brighton Centre[22]
- Green Party of England and Wales – Friday 2 to Sunday 11 October online at https://www.greenparty.org.uk/conference/
- Conservatives – Sunday 4 October to Wednesday 7 October at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham[23]
However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic all the physical party conferences were moved online. The Labour conference was replaced by an online event called "Labour Connected" from 19 to 22 September,[24] the Liberal Democrat conference was rescheduled for 25 to 28 September[25] and the Conservative conference for 3 to 6 October.[26] The Scottish National Party conference was the last major party conference of the season, held online from 28 to 30 November.[27]
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2019 conference season
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The dates and locations of the Autumn 2019 conferences were as follows:
As a result of the defeat for the Government in Miller/Cherry, the September prorogation of Parliament was declared void, and Parliament sat from 25 September. This meant that the Labour conference was cut short and – after failing to win a vote for a recess – that the Conservative conference clashed with the sitting of Parliament for the first time.[32][33]
The dates and locations of other 2019 conferences are as follows:
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2018 conference season
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The dates and locations of the 2018 conferences were as follows:
2017 conference season
The dates and locations of the 2017 conferences were as follows:
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2016 conference season
The dates and locations of the 2016 conferences were as follows:
- Green Party of England and Wales – Friday 2 September to Sunday 4 September 2016 at the University of Birmingham[54]
- UKIP – Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 September at the Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth[55]
- Liberal Democrats – Saturday 17 September to Tuesday 20 September at the Brighton Centre, Brighton[56]
- Labour – Sunday 25 September to Wednesday 28 September 2016 at the ACC Liverpool, Liverpool[57]
- Conservatives – Sunday 2 to Wednesday 5 October at International Convention Centre, Birmingham[58]
- Scottish National Party – Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 October at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow[59]
- Plaid Cymru – Friday 21 to Saturday 22 October at the Pavilion, Llangollen[60]
- Scottish Green Party – Friday 21 to Sunday 23 October at Perth Concert Hall and the Royal George Hotel, Perth[61]
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2015 conference season
The dates and locations of the 2015 conferences were as follows:
- Liberal Democrats – Saturday 19 to Wednesday 23 September at the Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth[62]
- UKIP – Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 September at Doncaster Racecourse, Doncaster[63]
- Green Party – Friday 25 to Monday 28 September at the Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth[64]
- Labour – Sunday 27 to Wednesday 30 September at the Brighton Centre, Brighton[65]
- Conservatives – Sunday 4 to Wednesday 7 October at Manchester Central, Manchester[66]
- Scottish Green Party - Saturday 10 to Sunday 11 October at the Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow.[67] It was the party's most well attended conference so far.
- Scottish National Party – Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 October at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, Aberdeen[68]
- Plaid Cymru – Friday 23 – Saturday 24 October at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth[69]
2014 conference season
The dates of the 2014 conferences were as follows:
- Green Party of England and Wales – 5 to 8 September, at Aston University, Birmingham[70]
- Trades Union Congress – 7 to 10 September, in Liverpool[71]
- Labour – 21 to 24 September, in Manchester[72]
- UKIP – 26 to 27 September, in Doncaster[73]
- Official Monster Raving Loony Party – 26th, 27th & 28th Sept, in Llandrindod Wells, Powys
- Conservatives – 28 September to 1 October, in Birmingham[74]
- Liberal Democrats – 4 to 8 October, in Glasgow[75]
- Scottish Green Party – 11 to 12 October, in Edinburgh[76]
- Plaid Cymru – 24 to 25 October, in Aberystwyth[77]
- Scottish National Party – 13 to 15 November, in Perth[78]
At their annual conference, the Scottish National Party held a leadership election following Alex Salmond's announcement of resignation. Nicola Sturgeon, formerly Salmond's deputy, was elected as their new leader.
2013 conference season
The dates of the 2013 conferences were as follows:
- Trades Union Congress – 8 to 11 September, in Bournemouth
- Green Party of England and Wales – 13 to 16 September, in Brighton
- Liberal Democrats – 14 to 18 September, in Glasgow
- UKIP – 20 to 21 September, in London
- Labour- 22 to 25 September, in Brighton
- Conservatives – 29 September to 2 October, in Manchester[79]
- Plaid Cymru – 11 to 12 October, in Aberystwyth
- Scottish National Party – 17 to 20 October, in Perth
2012 conference season
The dates of the 2012 conferences were as follows:
- Green Party of England and Wales – 7 to 10 September, in Bristol
- Trades Union Congress – 9 to 12 September, in Brighton
- Plaid Cymru – 13 to 15 September, in Brecon
- UKIP – 21 to 22 September, in Birmingham
- Liberal Democrats – 22 to 26 September, in Brighton
- Labour- 30 September to 4 October, in Manchester
- Conservatives – 8 to 11 October, in Birmingham
- Scottish National Party – 18 to 21 October, in Perth
See also
References
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