The Cabinet away-day took place in Leeds on November 28 and included a public question and answer session and a closed meeting.

But a Freedom of Information request submitted to West Yorkshire Police by the Yorkshire Post has revealed the money needed to provide security at the event – not including that provided by the Met's Special Branch – reached £137,719.

Last night the event was branded a "gimmick" by Tory opposition and "of dubious worth" by a pressure group. Ministers, however, insisted that the event provided a one-off opportunity to bring leading members of the Cabinet to the region to help save thousands of financial sector jobs.

It was only the second time since 1921 that a Cabinet meeting had been held outside of London, and was designed to show that the Government was listening to people in Yorkshire and dealing with the financial crisis crippling the region's banks.

Transportation, venue hire, publicity, food and accommodation are likely to push the cost up even further.

Following the Cabinet's first away-day, in Birmingham in September, Mr Brown said the event had cost £62,000 not including policing.

A similar amount is likely to have been spent for the Leeds away-day, taking the true cost to about £200,000.

Yesterday the Prime Minister announced that he would host a third Cabinet away-day in Liverpool on Thursday as the culmination of a three-day tour of the regions as he tries to sell his rescue plans to the public.

Yorkshire Minister Rosie Winterton, who was instrumental in bringing the Cabinet away-day to Leeds, said yesterday: "Hosting this event gave us the opportunity of getting the Prime Minister to Halifax and the Chancellor to Bradford & Bingley to allow them to put forward the case for saving thousands of jobs in the region.

"People in Yorkshire should welcome the work we are doing in trying to safeguard jobs here."

She added: "We need to be positive about what we are doing in this region to tackle the problems caused by the economic downturn and prepare it for the future.

"We need the support of central government for that which is why bringing everyone to Leeds was a very worthwhile exercise."

Robert Goodwill, Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby and Shadow Minister for Leeds, said these events were a "gimmick" and should be funded from Labour Party coffers rather than taxpayers.

"While it is important for the Cabinet Ministers to visit Yorkshire itself and find out about our particular issues, holding the Cabinet meeting itself here was a bit of a gimmick," he said.

"The cost of hosting it given the increased security is something that should be born by Labour rather than by the taxpayer.

"I can understand them wanting to show their presence in Yorkshire for political reasons – we did something similar in Bradford earlier last year – that is perfectly reasonable, but our event didn't cost anywhere near that much."

Taxpayers' Alliance spokesman Mark Wallace said: "This is a massive bill for the Government to land local taxpayers with. In future if they want to have the PR benefit of meeting outside London they should foot the bill from a central budget. These meetings are expensive and of dubious worth to areas that the Cabinet chooses to visit."

West Yorkshire Police said it would seek to recover the costs of the visit from central government.

The actual cost of policing the event is likely to be even more expensive than the figure provided with some events, such as Business Secretary Lord Mandelson's visit to Sheffield and Employment Minister Tony McNulty's visit to York being policed by other forces.

Comment: Page 10.