Welsh Conservatives are to return to the venue of one of the party’s most successful conferences for the event in 2009, it has been announced.

The Swalec Stadium in Cardiff – venue for the first Ashes test between England and Australia next summer – will host the Welsh Conservative Party conference in March.

The party last visited the stadium in 2007 when Conservative leader David Cameron and Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague were among the speakers.

The conference will take place over three days from March 27th to 29th and come just weeks before the European elections at which Welsh Conservatives hope to take an historic second seat and outpoll Labour in Wales for the first time.

Welsh party chairman Catrin Edwards said: “We are delighted to be returning to the Swalec Stadium next March. It provided the backdrop for a magnificent party conference in 2007 and I am confident it will do so again.

“The venue has been transformed since our last visit, and is now rightly recognised as one of the premier cricket grounds in Britain.

“This conference and the venue will provide an exciting backdrop for our ambitions in 2009 and beyond. We know we can beat Labour in the European elections. Such a result would shake the foundations of Welsh politics and give us the perfect springboard to further success at the General Election and Assembly elections to follow.

“We are under no illusions about just how much work there is to do in the months ahead. But we are also confident that the successes at every national election in Wales since 1999 give us the momentum to go on to further victories in 2009 and beyond.”