Brighton faces a fresh threat to its lucrative annual Labour Party conference with a new £250 million venue vying for the event.

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 annual event in Brighton next year but the choice for 2002 is still in the air and will be announced in the next few weeks.

ExCeL, a state-of-the-art exhibitions, conferences and events centre, which opened as a new international business venue for Europe 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."

The candidates topping the list remain the traditional three Bs of Blackpool, Bournemouth and Brighton.

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."

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

"Some of the hotels invest a lot of time to ensure these events come to the town. It is not just the hotels which benefit. It is the restaurants, the taxis, the shops.

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

"Think of how many delegates, in the region of 25,000, spend their money here."

November 23, 2000