TRADE councils’ conferences will now be held outside London, TUC Congress heard today, after it was revealed that plans to sell Congress House will make them unaffordable.

Councils delegate Kevin Allsop warned that “we have virtually no funds” to send delegates to the capital for annual conferences.

He warned that the TUC decision to always hold annual conferences in London meant the voices of care workers in particular, most of whom are women, were not being heard.

“We really cannot justify spending such a high amount [...] going to London every year,” he said.

“We don’t doubt that this decision was taken with good intentions but as we move forward the TUC might find another problem in that if it sells off Congress House, as it proposes, the decision to always hold conferences in London might cost a lot more.”

Delegates carried the motion, which noted that “extortionate hotel costs in London, as well as the generally higher travel costs, are likely to prevent councils attending the conference on cost grounds.”