DEVON and Cornwall police have refused to say how much it cost to police Gordon Brown's decision to bring his entire Cabinet to the West Country.

The Prime Minister staged the event – branded a taxpayer-funded publicity stunt by critics – in Exeter on February 5.

Almost every senior member of the government attended photo opportunities or Q&A sessions in the region before descending on Exeter Racecourse amid a high-police presence.

It was the second time Mr Brown had tried to bring his Cabinet to the region. In January a similar event was called off after heavy snow brought roads to a standstill.

Chauffeur-driven cars were seen arriving at the venue, and several ministers are known to have travelled by rail, on first-class tickets.

An earlier event in Yorkshire cost somewhere in the region of £200,000.

Last night Devon and Cornwall Constabulary said it "does not hold a total cost for policing the specified event in February or the cost of the preparation for the cancelled event in January".

"The event (in both instances) has not been independently costed and so any costs that relate to the specific event will be embedded in many different budget codes and in some cases would need to be calculated even at this stage ie officers time multiplied by each officers hourly rate."

The information came in response to a Freedom of Information request by a newspaper into the cost of policing the event.