Labour is now telling businesses that 15,000 people are expected to attend its conference next week, quietly cutting the figure from the 20,000 attendees it claimed would come last year. A 25% drop…
Last year the party’s commercial page told prospective attendees the conference had “more than 20,000 attendees including thousands of party members, MP’s [sic], media, business and council leaders“, and that “there has never been a better time to participate in what we expect to be our biggest conference to date“. It was never a good sign to have a grammatical mistake in the opening pitch to businesses…
In any case, both lines have now gone. The 2026 page now offers only “one of the largest political events in Europe“, with no figure at all. The only attendance number left on the commercial side of Labour’s website sits on the fringe hub, where the party advertises “15000+ Visitors”.
Any masochistic entrepreneur still interested in attending the more modest conference can do so for £3,035, with a day pass now costing £1,120. The complex pass, which doesn’t even get you into the hall at all, is £2,270 for the week. Each one includes a £5 carbon offsetting charge, so at least the planet is fine…
Andy Haldane, Burnham’s recent adviser on the economy who has not taken up a No10 job, told Andrew Marr on LBC:
“The market now suspects that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better TikTok videos…
imposing windfall taxes on oil & gas or on banks or upping capital gains tax would […] repeat the mistake that Rachel made […] The Achilles heel, the fiscal Achilles heel of this government thus far has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”