Great Britain. The Prime Minister chose Liverpool ’s BT Convention Centre as the location for a surprise speech on the economy. Gordon Brown made an impromptu appearance at a conference hosted by the North West Development Agency (NWDA). He was greeted by Bob Prattey, chief executive of ACC Liverpool, alongside and Steven Broomhead, from the NWDA. The Prime Minister was speaking at the event only days after Chancellor Alastair Darling warned the country is facing the worst economic slowdown in 60 years. Bob Prattey said: “By their very nature, visits by VIPs, such as Gordon Brown, are often unscheduled and arranged at short notice. However, due to the nature of the building and our extremely experienced staff, ACC Liverpool , has the flexibility and capability to deal with last minute arrangements, such as additional security and providing facilities for the media.”
ACC Liverpool consists of the 10,600 seater Echo Arena and the state of the art BT Convention Centre.   The latter features a 1,350 seater auditorium, a 3,725 square metre multi-purpose hall, 18 meeting rooms and total exhibition space in excess of 7000 square metres.