The Brighton TUC Conference is to finish early after yesterday’s tragedies in the United States.

President of the TUC, Bill Morris, told reporters that he would be fetching the conference to a “dignified close” on Wednesday in order to support the government. The conference will conduct no business and will wind up by 10.00 a.m. BST.

The conference had been due to end on Thursday.

The conference had been due to hear the Prime Minister Tony Blair speak yesterday but his set speech was cancelled as he gave a short address to delegates before returning to London. Today the conference was due to cover a motion critical of government plans for private funding within the public sector. The Prime Ministers set speech text has been distributed to delegates.

Other guest speakers at the conference have been stood down including Joe Greene, vice-president of the American ALF-CIO, the TUC’s equivalent in the USA