Protestors demand Liverpool City Council cancel Electronic Warfare Conference planned for October 2021, in response councillors agree to request ACC Liverpool Group adopt an Ethical Charter

                                                                         

By John Brace (Editor)
and
Leonora Brace (Co-Editor)

First publication date: Saturday 24th July 2021, 6:18 PM (BST).

Before a public meeting of all Liverpool City Council councillors on 21st July 2021 there was a protest outside (pictured above). The one pictured above was just one of three different protests. This piece is about the protest calling on the Electronic Warfare Conference planned for October 2021 at the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool to be cancelled.

City Council Meeting (Liverpool City Council) 21st July 2021 Part 3 of 4 (ACC Liverpool Group)

City Council Meeting (Liverpool City Council) 21st July 2021 Part 4 of 4 (ACC Liverpool Group)

As you can see from the two video clips above, councillors were told that Liverpool City Council owned the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool. Liverpool City Council also solely owns the company ACC Liverpool Group Limited that runs the Convention Centre.

The latest accounts of the company state, “The support from the parent undertaking, Liverpool City Council, is committed under the terms of the management agreement between the Company and Liverpool City Council. The management agreement states Liverpool City Council shall pay the Company (when properly required by the Company) such sums as are necessary to meet expenditure properly incurred in accordance with the relevant budget by the Council, in excess of revenue received by the company from its own account.”

Liverpool City Council earlier this year agreed as part of its budget to spend £13.6 million in total in this year and the next four financial years on “internal investment works” at the Arena.

Those present were told by Deputy Mayor Councillor Jane Corbett, “We own the building, we don’t make decisions and we can’t make decisions and that’s what’s so frustrating here. We can’t jump in and make them do what we want, we can’t do that, we’re not allowed to by law, but we do expect them to abide by the principles we give them and the decision-making framework that they’re very, very well aware of.”

At the end of the debate councillors voted for a motion that included, “The Council has no power to interfere with bookings taken by ACC Liverpool, and has no member representatives on its Board. Given the nature of the relationship between the Council and the ACC Liverpool Group, Council therefore requests that the ACC Liverpool Group develop and adopt an Ethical Charter as company policy and update their risk register to include risk [of] embarrassment and negative association for Liverpool and the City Council.”

A Liberal Democrat amendment to Labour’s original motion to extend the proposed Ethical Charter and framework to the nature and type of investments that Liverpool City Council make under its Invest to Save and Invest to Earn initiatives was also accepted.

An online petition opposing the Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool hosting the Electronic Warfare Convention has at the time of writing 2,220 signatures.

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