In the United Kingdom the party conference season is the period of three weeks in September and October of each year, whilst the House of Commons is in recess, in which the annual political party conferences are held.
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]
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.
Television coverage
Until 2019, the BBC had provided live and mostly uninterrupted coverage, initially on BBC One and BBC Two, and in the first two decades of the 21st century, on BBC Parliament. This coverage had also included the Trades Union Congress and the CBI Conference.
Between 1992 and 2019, live, uninterrupted coverage of the main three party conferences had been broadcast on BBC Parliament and its predecessor The Parliamentary Channel. However cutbacks at BBC Parliament, which saw it drop all of its political programming to focus solely on live and recorded coverage from Westminster and the devolved chambers, means that linear television no longer provides full live coverage of the party conferences, with live coverage on BBC Two restricted to just the party leaders speeches of the three main political parties.
Until the early 1980, ITV, and then, for a short while, Channel 4, had also shown coverage. ITV and Channel 4's coverage is now restricted to its scheduled news bulletins.
2024 conference season
The dates for the 2024 conferences are as follows:
Since last year’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, the dates for the 2023 conferences were as follows:
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:
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:
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,[22] the Liberal Democrat conference was rescheduled for 25 to 28 September[23] and the Conservative conference for 3 to 6 October.[24] The Scottish National Party conference was the last major party conference of the season, held online from 28 to 30 November.[25]
2019 conference season
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.[30][31]
The dates and locations of other 2019 conferences are as follows:
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:
