OPPOSITION politicians have branded yesterday’s Cabinet regional meeting in Southampton as waste of money and a publicity stunt.

They said the costly event in the midst of a recession – estimated at more than £100,000 – showed ministers were out of touch with cash strapped residents – who weren’t invited.

Southampton’s own councillor for economic development Royston Smith blasted: “It’s a shocking waste of public money.”

He pointed to the three bullet proofed cars filled with special branch officers who accompanied Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to a visit of the city’s central police station.

Local police were also out in force across the city in the tightest security operation here for years with spotter planes, a fleet of police motorcycles and patrol cars alongside government motorcades.

Tory Cllr Smith said at a time when council budgets were under pressure the Cabinet should have remained in London “doing their jobs”.

“When people are afraid of losing their jobs it shows just how out of touch they are,” he said.

Cllr Smith, who will be standing for election against Cabinet minister and Itchen MP John Denham in the next general election, added: “They have MPs and surgeries. They should know what’s going on the streets.

“This is just a public relations exercise to bolster the support for the city’s two Labour MPs.

“If they really wanted to know what people are thinking they should be talking to the people at Ford who are losing their jobs.”

Lib Dem MP for Romsey and Southampton north Sandra Gidley added: “Of course Cabinet ministers should visit Southampton more often, I can see little benefit in having them all descend on the city at once. She called it “an expensive PR stunt – an empty gesture by a vacuous Cabinet.”

The Cabinet meeting was at City Cruise Terminal. It was followed by a question and answer session with 200 invited guests. Ministers then carried out a string of public engagements across the city and beyond. The visit was only the fourth Cabinet meeting to be held outside London.

Gordon Brown put the bill for the Cabinet’s first regional meeting, in Birmingham last September, at £62,000, excluding police costs. West Yorkshire police said the second event in Leeds in November had cost it £138,000. A spokeswoman for Hampshire police said it had yet to calculate its costs but they were likely to be available by the end of the week.

She said she could not reveal the extent of the resources diverted to policing the event for “tactical reasons” but added: “We will be asking for a contribution from the Government to meet the costs because it was entirely their event.”

A Home Office spokesman added: “If a local force incurs additional policing costs for a government event, the police authority can request special grant support from the Home Secretary.”