Respect attended The Labour Party Conference 2026 as part of our influencing work to connect with organisations and leaders across the sector, hear from policymakers and ask them questions.
Sunday
First up was The Sisters Assemble rally organised by the Labour Women’s Network including Q&A with Angela Rayner and a speech from Minister for Equalities, Bridget Phillipson, where the women in the room were reminded not to “stay in our lane” and commit to fight the normalised misogyny coming from the far right.
The team then headed to the Delivering for Women and Girls Reception, where a commitment was made by Minister Jake Richards to a White Paper on family courts this year – we look forward to this, the situation with family courts needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Monday
The Respect team supported our colleagues at the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) and Refuge at the launch of their new Dangerous by Design report looking at online harms, followed by the Society for Labour Lawyers discussing the ongoing challenges with the court system, and how we can seek change for victims and survivors
This was followed by a The Children's Society event on launching new research on teenage relationship abuse, hearing directly from young people themselves. Colleagues closed out the day by joining concurrent fringes on the new Building Bridges project that EVAW has developed with HOPE not hate, More in Common and Beyond Equality on men and boys and resisting the far right, and the Women’s Rally looking at the implementation of the VAWG strategy from an employers’ perspective.
Tuesday
The Respect team attended an early fringe by the Labour Group on Men and Boys – Men, Boys and Britain’s Future. With contributions from a panel including Equimundo (thank you to founder Gary Barker for the mention) and Hope not Hate, the panel was chaired by Alistair Strathern MP. Jo Todd reminded the audience that there is a wide variety of perpetrators, from those who are entrenched in their behaviour, to those where there is an opportunity for change. Jo also talked about the need to understand how boys and young men function in the online space, it is not always negative. Finally, Jo asked the big question – how do we bring the VAWG and men and boys conversation together?
This was followed by the Inside the Manosphere fringe hosted by the University of Manchester where colleagues continued the discussion about what young men are watching online. One of the things highlighted was the issue of school culture, which some children feel unhappy in, which is driving some of this.
Alistair Strathern MP talked about young people he's met in schools where they have set up a group of active bystanders. It is important that teachers are given the confidence to have these conversations with students.
Discussions and questions around the under 16s social media ban were met by Baroness Berger who talked about it not being a panacea, but it is designed to restrict dangerous features, and it is also about tech companies being held to account.
Following the Prime Minister’s speech we spent the evening at the annual Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) rally.
So that is a wrap for Labour Party Conference 2026 – outside of the fringes we had helpful conversations with Ministers, potential collaborators, and with sector colleagues. We will be sharing deeper reflections on our time in Liverpool and will be looking forward to making plans for 2027.
