The party conference season is as much a fixture in the national autumn calendar as the new school term and Guy Fawkes night. It briefly takes the spotlight off Parliament and the TV studios and for a few heady days illuminates both top and bottom of the political parties that claim the right to govern us.

This year’s conferences will be of particular importance as they are the last before a General Election and there are no prizes for guessing what the big questions at each of these events will be.

Read the rest of Melissa Benn’s latest Opinion piece in Public Finance here.