Staging this year’s Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Liverpool has been hailed as a resounding success for the city; with its warm welcome and conference facilities both praised by UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
The five day event, held at ACC Liverpool, was attended by 6,500 delegates and visitors and received unprecedented coverage in the UK media. The political party conference is understood to have boosted the local economy by £10million.
UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said, “Outside of an election, the autumn party conference is simply the biggest and most important event in our party’s political calendar. And this year it has been the biggest conference in our party’s history.
“ACC Liverpool has been an excellent choice of venue for our first conference as a party of Government in more than 70 years and we are proud to have been the first major political party to hold an autumn conference in Liverpool.
“We received an incredible welcome from the people and businesses in Liverpool – the city has been a wonderful host.
“All the staff at ACC Liverpool, Merseyside Police and many of the hotels around the city have worked around the clock getting ready for our arrival, and I am extremely grateful for everything they’ve done – they have been great ambassadors for the city.”
Lucy Billingsley, Conference and Events Manager for the Liberal Democrats added, “Now that the conference has drawn to a close we are absolutely delighted with the experience our delegates have received; from the warm welcome demonstrated by the people of Liverpool to the expert planning and delivery by the team at ACC Liverpool.”
Bob Prattey, Chief Executive of ACC Liverpool added, “This has been one of the most high profile conferences we have ever staged, given the attendance of the UK Deputy Prime Minister and the focus of local, national and international media attention both at the venue and across the city over the last five days.
“It has been a resounding success, with the venue exceeding delegates’ expectations and the arrangements for security and event organisation running smoothly.
“This conference has delivered huge value for the city, not just in terms of visitor spend, but also in the way it has acted as a shop window for Liverpool and all it has to offer as a world-class business, leisure, tourism and investment destination.”
In 2011 ACC Liverpool will host the Labour party autumn conference which is set to follow in the footsteps of the successful delivery of this year’s Liberal Democrat conference.
