Liberal Democrats cancel conference after Queen’s death

Party’s Brighton gathering clashed with 10-day mourning period and state funeral

The Liberal Democrats have cancelled their upcoming autumn conference and postponed major debates until spring following the Queen’s death.

Sir Ed Davey’s party conference – set to run from 17 to 20 September – clashed with the 10-day mourning period for late sovereign Queen Elizabeth II, including the 19 September funeral.

Nick da Costa, who chairs the party’s conference committee, said the Lib Dems “want and need to show our respect to the Queen and the period of national mourning”.

In an email update, he said: “The sad news of the last few days has touched our nation deeply. And we now know that the Queen’s funeral will take place on the Monday of our conference.”

“After very careful consideration ... the conference committee and federal board have together regretfully decided to cancel our autumn conference and postpone major debates until spring,” Mr Da Costa added.

Labour is planning to carry on with its autumn conference, The Independent understands. Keir Starmer’s party kicks off its conference in Liverpool on 25 September, a few days after the mourning ends.

The Conservatives’ are also thought to be continuing with plans for the conference in Birmingham from 2 October, though both parties still have to decide whether to cancel, delay or significantly change their programme of events.

Cancelling could cost millions of pounds, with businesses, charities and other civil organisations paying large sums for access to MPs and senior party figures.

The Lib Dems said they had looked at the option of postponing the conference until later in October, but said it would have placed “significant additional costs” on members and proved logistically challenging.

Earlier on Saturday, Liz Truss, along with her ministers, opposition party leaders and other senior figures, took an oath of allegiance to the new King as parliament met for a rare Saturday sitting.

The King also held an audience with the new prime minister and her cabinet, followed by a separate audience with Sir Keir Starmer, Sir Ed and the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford.

In further tributes in the Commons, senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper paid tribute to a “truly remarkable Queen” who embodied “the resilience, the strength, the kindness, the fairness, the common decency, the determined optimism that things will get better because we will make them so”.

Former Tory minister Damian Green said the Queen did not have “a trace of self-regarding pomposity” and had “a genius for necessary reform, for talking an ancient institution of huge importance and changing it little by little so that it stayed relevant”.

The leader of the ‘one nation’ caucus of Tory centrists said: “She enabled the monarchy to remain ancient and modern. It’s an extraordinary historic achievement,” adding that today’s televised accession council showed the King was “proceeding on the same path”.

SNP MP Joanna Cherry paid tribute to the late sovereign’s “love of Scotland” – referring to her as “the Queen of Scots” and reciting Robert Burns My Heart’s in Highlands in tribute.

She added: “At a time of change, there are many people in my country – particularly young people – who might prefer a republic to a constitutional monarch. But that did not in any way prevent the affection our late Queen held in Scotland from being returned in equal measure.”