Event Details

Roundtable at the Labour Party Conference 2025 hosted jointly with Edge Hill University that will discuss how the Government can raise living standards in coastal communities across the UK.

The Government has pledged to deliver higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom by the end of the Parliament.

However, many of the UK’s coastal communities face a complex set of challenges that will make realising this ambition particularly difficult. Coastal communities are more likely to face poorer population health, lower levels of educational attainment, and higher levels of economic inactivity – while economic productivity is on average 10% lower in coastal areas than the UK average.

Towns and cities on the UK’s coast are likely to be a key battleground at the next General Election and ensuring those who live there who can work have access to secure, flexible and well-paid jobs in the future is a key challenge and opportunity for policymakers.

This roundtable will bring together politicians, local leaders, employers, think tanks and representative bodies to ask the following questions:

• What are the growth opportunities that coastal communities provide for the coming decade?
• How can the Government work with stakeholders to improve health and wellbeing, skills and employment outcomes for coastal communities to help raise living standards?
• What interventions should a Labour Government prioritise for investment to support people into coastal jobs of the future?
• How do we make sure that coastal communities remain at the heart of the Government’s agenda for the remainder of the Parliament?

There will be presentations from Professor Heather Brown (Lancaster University) and Professor Michael Young (Vice-Chancellor, Edge Hill University).

Participants include Alison Hume MP (Co-Chair, APPG Coastal Communities and MP for Scarborough and Whitby), Polly Billington MP (Co-Chair, APPG Coastal Communities and MP for East Thanet), Patrick Hurley MP (Southport), Lizzi Collinge MP (Morecambe and Lunesdale), Lorraine Beavers MP (Blackpool North and Fleetwood), Lord Steve Bassam, Cllr Tudor Evans (Leader of Plymouth City Council) and senior representatives from Accenture, British Ports Association, EDF UK, APPG on Key Cities, Northern Health Science Alliance and the North West Business Leadership Team.