Brighton faces fresh competition for the lucrative annual Labour Party conference from a new £250 million venue.

Party officials played down claims that Labour is considering abandoning its favourite seaside sites in favour of the new centre in London's Docklands but said they were considering it as a candidate.

Labour has confirmed it will hold the event in Brighton next year but the choice of venue for 2002 is undecided and will be announced in the next few weeks.

ExCeL, an exhibitions, conferences and events centre which opened yesterday, aims to lure the party and is holding talks with Labour officials who plan a visit to the new centre.

A Labour spokesman said: "It's true to say we have had a meeting with them but we have a meeting with a whole range of venues.

"It may be that ExCeL could be suitable for other events. We do hold a range of conferences and it could be that the venue is suitable for our local government conference, for instance.

"We are coming to Brighton in 2001. For 2002, we have no idea. There is a list of candidates.

"We are frequently approached by other venues, such as Cardiff and Birmingham. The candidates at the top of the list are still the main three - Blackpool, Bournemouth and Brighton - mainly because of the accommodation facilities they can offer."

Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper said: "Personally, I think it ought to alternate between North and South.

"I think it's unreasonable to ask people from the North to travel so far for every conference, as it is unreasonable to ask people from the South to travel North."

Richard Baker, general manager of The Grand Hotel, said: "It would be devastating for Brighton to lose the Labour conference.

"We have other events which are successful, but not as much as the Labour Party conference."