THE chairman of Merseyside police authority is to write to the home secretary, Alan Johnson, to demand the Government reimburses the £199,000 cost of policing the cabinet visit to Liverpool in January.
Cllr Bill Weightman is to intervene in the row, in the hope the Home Office will rethink its decision to refuse payment.
The Home Office has said £145,191 would have been spent anyway, and the remaining balance of £53,838 was said to be “of a level that a force of Merseyside’s capability would be able to absorb”.
Cllr Weightman was unavailable for comment last night, but a spokesman for the police authority confirmed he would be writing to Mr Johnson.
Merseyside Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe said: “This is a disappointing decision for the force and the people of Merseyside.”
In 2006, the Home Office refused to reimburse the cost of policing US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Liverpool.
It was then forced into a U-turn after a campaign led by Cllr Weightman.
