Adam Trimingham (The Argus, October 2) says we should call time on party conferences in Brighton because “in a city centre pub I saw no one who looked remotely political” and “the number of delegates was given as 10,000 but I doubt if there were anything like that number”.

He says that membership of political parties is declining and that the benefit of such events to our economy is doubtful.

For the Labour conference, 10,000 delegates and staff came to Brighton. Sorry if they didn’t look “political” enough but Labour delegates are in fact ordinary people, not “zealots” as Adam paints them.

All will have needed somewhere to stay and every hotel, B&B and spare room was booked up for miles, with some delegates having to stay as far away as Shoreham.

The venues and fringe meetings were packed and security was light. Adam complains about the fence but, aside from that, there was none of the limited disruption of previous conferences to traffic.

Can it really be that bad to have hotel rooms filled, restaurants busy and the city featured on TV in late September? Does it really do nothing to attract other conference trade to the city?

As far as declining political interest goes, it’s true that Conservative membership has halved since 2005 but more than 150 students signed up to Labour at Brighton University Freshers Fair recently, with even more at Sussex University. Labour has 1,500 members across the city – far more than any other party.

Brighton and Hove’s Labour Party is active and campaigns on issues locally and nationally.

Councillor Warren Morgan, leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group, Brighton and Hove City Council