THE Liberal Democrats have cancelled their spring conference this weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Party chiefs made the announcement just minutes ago, ruling that in light of the World Health Organisation upgrading the coronavirus outbreak to a pandemic, they would have to scrap the event.
In a statement, the party's president Mark Pack said: “Following careful consideration of the latest health advice and risks, the Federal Board has tonight decided to cancel our federal conference this weekend.
“It’s not a decision that was taken lightly as conference plays a key role in our democratic party as well as being an important training and information exchange event. However, the health of our members and supporters, the staff who work on conference and the wider public is far more important.
“We have noted today’s announcement from the WHO, treating this as a pandemic and calling for 'urgent and aggressive action', and also how other organisations have started cancelling events, such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists stopping all meetings with over 100 people.
"We have also paid close attention to the public health advice from the NHS, and note that some of the advice, such as around keeping distant from people who are ill, is in practice very hard to follow given the format of our conference involves large numbers of strangers sitting close to each other for extended periods of time.”
The spring conference was due to take place this weekend in York, beginning on Friday until Sunday. Former leader Jo Swinson was scheduled to speak on Saturday, with the party's interim leader Sir Ed Davey making his speech on Sunday.
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