LONDON, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May and her leading ministers will head to Manchester at the weekend for the last of the 2017 political conferences.
Security around the conference area will be even tighter this year following the terror attack earlier this year when a bomb was detonated at Manchester Arena, just minutes away from Manchester Central where the party conference opens Sunday.
The showpiece event will come next Wednesday when May delivers her keynote conference speech, on the theme "Building a country that works for everyone".
It will be May's first big test following the snap general election she called in June when instead of improving Conservative numbers in the House of Commons, she emerged running a minority government.
The dismal performance in the election led a number of leading political commentators to speculate on May's chance of survival as prime minister. Next week's conference was cited as a make or break event for May.
The speech will also give political pundits the chance to compare May's reception to the pop-star given to Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn at their conference which ended Wednesday in Brighton.
Another major focus during the conference will come on Tuesday afternoon when the Conservatives hold a debate about Britain's departure from the European Union.
Brexit Secretary David Davis will speak in the debate focusing on securing the best Brexit deal for Britain. International trade secretary Liam Fox will also speak in the debate.
Also on Tuesday the foreign secretary Boris Johnson will lead a debate on promoting a global Britain.
Away from the conference area a number of marches and demonstrations will take place from a number of groups opposed to government policies.
Manchester has become a favorite location in the north of England for the Conservatives because of the ability to throw a huge security wall around the one-time railway terminus that now serves as a conference venue, stretching to the plush Midland Hotel which is used as the headquarters for the conference. It will be the party's fifth conference in the northern city since 2009.
City officials have predicted that staging the conference is expected to generate more than 40 million U.S. dollars for the Manchester economy, giving a boost to the hotel and catering as well as leisure sectors. May and her front-team of ministers will join around 12,000 delegates and exhibitors at the event.
