Equity had a busy conference season, attending a full range of political party conferences, to ensure our priorities are firmly on politicians’ agendas - from personality rights to BBC charter renewal to local arts funding – and that our members’ voices are heard by those in power. We also attended TUC Congress where our key campaigns won the backing of the wider trade union movement.
Liberal Democrats: 19 – 22 September
The first conference of the season that Equity attended was Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton.
We held meetings with several members of the party working across areas that align with key Equity priorities. These included Anna Sabine, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport; Baroness Bonham-Carter, Liberal Democrat Lords spokesperson for culture, media and sport and; Lord Clement-Jones, Liberal Democrat Lords spokesperson for Science and Innovation.
In these meetings, we discussed our proposals for BBC Charter review, introducing a ‘labour test’ for creative industries tax reliefs and our calls on the government to introduce personality rights to increase protections in relation to digital replicas. The party appears to be in a good place regarding our asks on AI as the party passed a motion in support of personality rights during the conference.
Labour Party: 27 – 30 September
Labour conference was held in Liverpool this year, with the mood amongst attendees feeling positive. Equity had a strong presence across the weekend, with our General Secretary, Paul W. Fleming, speaking at several fringe events and panels throughout conference.
We responded to statements made by the government throughout the conference, including welcoming the reinstatement of the Union Learning Fund, encouraging the Prime Minister to ensure that the creative industries is at the heart of the government’s growth in every postcode mission and calling on the government to introduce personality rights to tackle the unauthorised use of AI-generated digital replicas.
Equity met with a number of Members of Parliament throughout the conference on a range of topics. This included meeting with Kanishka Narayan MP, Minister for Artificial Intelligence, to discuss our personality rights proposals; Sir Stephen Timms MP, Minister for Social Security and Disability to discuss reducing the impact of the Minimum Income Floor in the creative industries as well as the ongoing PIP review and several backbench MPs from across the party.
Green Party: 2 – 4 October
Last weekend, the Green party held its conference in Brighton and Equity attended for the weekend. The conference felt busy, with increased presence from the press and external organisations when compared to previous years.
Equity launched our new local councillor network at Green conference, at a breakfast event on Sunday 4 October which was well attended by around 60 councillors from the party. Equity’s General Secretary, and Green Party Deputy Leader, Rachel Millward both spoke at the launch, highlighting the importance of networks such as this to the work of councillors in supporting the arts across the country.
Conservative Party: 4 – 7 October
The final conference Equity attended in 2026 was Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. On the first day of conference, the party announced a £1bn cut to the budget for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Equity met with several parliamentarians throughout the conference, including Lord Mendoza, who is an officer of the APPG on Film and Broader Screen and was a Commissioner on the Cultural Recovery Fund; Baroness Stedman-Scott, Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, and Louie French MP, Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport.
We discussed a variety of key priorities for Equity, including our work on personality rights, BBC Charter renewal and on reducing the impact of the MIF in the creative industries. We also discussed the announced £1bn of cuts, emphasising the importance of public investment in the industries. Equity will be following up by writing to the shadow Secretary of State regarding the announced cuts.
