Ed thanks the city

THE Leader of the Opposition has praised Liverpool for being a “fantastic backdrop” for the Labour Party conference.

According to official figures the city has enjoyed an estimated £15 million economic boost from the event, which has attracted 11,000 delegates and two thousand journalists.

Ed Miliband MP, said: “Liverpool has been a fantastic host city and I would like to thank all the people and agencies involved in making our conference such a great success.

“Listening to people has always been at the heart of Labour Party conference and by holding conference in Liverpool many people have experienced conference for the first time.

“The city and its venues have been a fantastic backdrop for a very successful conference.”

A record 500 fringe meetings, debates and discussions have taken place at venues across the city, and the city has been the backdrop for hundreds of hours of national TV coverage.

Flagship network television programmes such as BBC One Breakfast, the Andrew Marr show, Newsnight and Sky News have all broadcast live from in and around ACC Liverpool.

Of course, all those journalists colliding with all those delegates, far away from the pampas grasslands and car key suburbs of homes far away, have led to a lively buzz around the city all week. Twitter has been rife with tales of parties until the early hours leading to red eyes and red faces among the sea of muted red at Conference itself. 

And red pates as the thermometer went up. Council Leader Joe Anderson said: “The sun has certainly shone on Liverpool this week and I have been overwhelmed with comments from delegates about how fantastic the city looks and how smoothly everything has gone.

“You simply cannot put a price on the stunning pictures of Liverpool’s Waterfront which have been broadcast into millions of living rooms around the country over the last week.

“I would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard on making the event such a success for Liverpool, and I am absolutely certain that the Labour Party will be returning to the city at some point in the not too distant future.”

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Ward, Merseyside Police said: “The policing operation surrounding the conference has been one of the largest policing operations we have implemented in Merseyside and I am pleased it has been a success.”