Rochdale MP questions rising Labour costs!

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen has spoke of his concern, after figures he obtained showed that the Home Office Security Grant for the Labour Party Autumn Conference is set to more than quadruple since Labour came to power.

Paul said, "The figure that the Home Office will be providing to police the Labour Party Conference in Manchester is already at £4.2 Million. Since coming into power in 1997 - the Home Office Grant has rocketed from £750,000. I will asking for reassurances that this cost will not rise even further and that no situational cost will be met by Greater Manchester Police. Year on year, more public money is being spent on policing Labour. I appreciate that the security of the Prime Minister and his colleagues is important. I do however feel that when you bear in mind that Greater Manchester Police have a Budget Shortfall of £14 Million for this year and £13.5 Million for next year - the cost to the tax payer of over £4 Million for a short conference is a bit over the top."

Paul will be writing to Labour Party Chairman - Hazel Blears MP to see whether the Labour Party can make a significant financial contribution to reduce this burden on the tax payer. Paul will be looking at other issues to do with the 5 day Conference, set to take place in Manchester in September. He has submitted other questions, including asking for guarantee that policing in Rochdale and other areas of Greater Manchester will not be affected by the Conference. The estimated manpower is huge with 1,000 officers from Greater Manchester expected to police a ring of steel around the Conference. In the run up to the Conference - 18,000 people will be checked upon, it is not known whether the cost of this huge exercise is part of the £4.2 million pound cost.

Paul Rowen MP continued, "Conferences make a lot of money for political parties and I would like to see at least part of their profits go towards paying the huge security costs. It is worth pointing out that security costs met by the tax payer for the Conservative Party Conference went up an astonishing £215.000 in the year that David Cameron MP became Leader. The Liberal Democrats do not receive any contribution from the Home Office towards the cost of policing their Conferences."

The Home Office have refused to reveal how much they will be contributing to 'associated costs', 'citing security reasons'. The costs below are for the Autumn Conference only and the annual costs are set to soar when the security grants, per year are included.

All Written Answers on 12 Jun 2006 « Previous answer Next answer »

Paul Rowen (Rochdale, Liberal Democrat) Hansard source

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the costs to public funds were of policing and general security for the (a) Labour, (b) Conservative and (c) Liberal Democrat party conferences in each year since 1992.

Tony McNulty (Minister of State, Home Office) Hansard source

holding answer 8 June 2006

The table shows the cost to public funds, in the form of special grant paid to police authorities, for policing party conferences in England and Wales. For security reasons, we do not disclose the other costs incurred.

Year of party conference Force Amount of Government special grant (£ million)

(a) Labour

1997-98 Sussex 0.750 (BRIGHTON)

1998-99 Lancashire 0.750 (BLACKPOOL)

1999-2000 Dorset 1.581 (BOURNMOUTH)

2000-01 Sussex 1.660 (BRIGHTON)

2001-02 Sussex 1.810 (BRIGHTON)

2002-03 Lancashire 1.500 (BLACKPOOL)

2003-04 Dorset 2.250 (BOURNMOUTH)

2004-05 Sussex 3.303 (BRIGHTON)

2005-06 Sussex 3.600 (BRIGHTON)

(b) Conservative

1996-97 Dorset 1.150

1997-98 Lancashire 0.750

1998-99 Dorset 0.750

1999-2000 Lancashire 0.892

2000-01 Dorset 0.900

2001-02 Lancashire 1.072

2002-03 Dorset 0.894

2003-04 Lancashire 1.200

2004-05 Dorset 1.185

2005-06 Lancashire 1.400

(c) Liberal Democrat( 1) - -

(1 )No funding is provided for Liberal Democrat party conferences.