The Labour Party will descend on Manchester for their annual conference this week – in a major event expected to bring £25 million into the city economy.
Senior politicians, Labour party members and media crews, will converge on Manchester Central for the event held from Sunday September 21 to Wednesday 24 – and protestors will not be too far behind.
Several demonstrations are also expected to be held outside the conference, with protestors seeking to make their points to the Labour Leadership.
Greater Manchester Police Superintendent Martin Greenhalgh, responsible for policing of the event said: “People are lobbying the conference as is their democratic right.
“There’s no suggestion that there will be any security threats. There may be some disruption as there will be a lot of people around but we”ll deal with it in the same way we would a football match.
“We want to work in partnership with people rather than seeing them as a threat. I am comfortable with the plan we have in place to ensure the least impact on the community from disruption and the safety of delegates attending the conference.”
On Sunday, the Keep Our NHS Public group are holding a ‘Lobby the Labour Conference’ march through Manchester.
And, on Monday evening, the Cyclists’ Touring Club (CTC), the national cycling charity, are organising a ‘mass bike ride’ down Oxford Road to call for greater funding for bicycle enthusiasts to be included in Labour’s manifesto.
The Manchester Central Conference Centre and the next door Midland Hotel will be closed to the public.
There will also be road closures on Lower Mosley Street, Windmill Street and Mount Street, where they pass the venue, from 7am on Saturday 20.
Deputy Chief Executive of Manchester Council, Sara Todd, said: “There will be minimal road closures this year and diversions will be clearly sign-posted. People shouldn’t see the impact. We have plans in place to deal with any disruption.”
Ms Todd was confident that any disruption would be more than balanced out by the benefits of the conference.
She said: “We expect the conference will bring in £25million in direct benefit to Manchester, from having 11,000 delegates here using hotels, restaurants and shops.
“That’s not counting the benefits we get from being seen on the national stage, and indeed the world stage, helping us attract future bookings.”
Angie Robinson, chief executive of Manchester Central, was also optimistic about the week ahead: “I’m very confident that we’re ready for the conference and have everything under control.
“The scale of it is huge. All our 120 staff are working on it, some of them around the clock, and we’re also bringing in 300 casual workers to help. They’re usually local people, which are fitting as we’re one of the major employers in Manchester.”
The Central chief is also prepared for being thrust into the media limelight.
“There will be a lot of media interest,” she said.
“Sky News have already built a pod into the venue to report live. We often get curve balls thrown at us, like Newsnight asking if they can broadcast here with a few hours’ notice and we always manage to accommodate them somehow.
“They’ll be a lot of attention this year, particularly with the aftermath of the Scottish referendum and the debate on devolution to English cities like Manchester. And, of course, it’s also the last Labour Conference before the General Election.”
This will be the sixth time Manchester has hosted the Labour Party Conference.
Previous gatherings including a meeting during the First World War in 1917, where delegates debated the Russian Revolution, and Tony Blair’s last conference as Prime Minister in 2006 when Bill Clinton was a guest speaker.
Labour leader Ed Miliband will deliver a speech to the conference on Tuesday, in which he is expected to outline plans for transferring more powers to English cities.
Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio will also be a high-profile speaker expected to talk about his work tackling inner-city poverty.
Main image courtesy of Huw and inset courtesy of BBC via YouTube with thanks
