A POLICE and crime commissioner has rejected campaigners' claims she costs the public more than the police authority she was elected to replace.

According to the Taxpayers' Alliance, the 2013/14 budget overseen by Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), was £412,000 higher than North Yorkshire Police Authority's budget in 2010/11.

A report by the campaign group put Mrs Mulligan's office as the second least efficient in the country, costing in 2013/14 £2,725 for every 1,000 people eligible to vote at the PCC election in 2012.

Elsewhere in the region, Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria's PCC offices were all found to have a smaller budget in 2013/14 than the police authorities which ran the forces in 2010/11.

The report shows Northumbria's 2013/14 budget was £2,912,000 less than the police authority's spend in 2010/11. In Cleveland the figure was £428,000 and Durham the decrease was £112,000.

Commenting on the report, Jonathan Isaby, Taxpayers' Alliance chief executive, said: "Taxpayers were told that the new system of police and crime commissioners wouldn't cost them any more than the authorities they replaced, but this research suggests that's not the case in many parts of the country.

"When the future of the police is being discussed in the context of a necessary savings programme, discussing whether we're getting value for money from the new commissioners must be paramount.

"With potential savings of £29 million available, we have to ask for more efficiency from those who seem to be spending over the odds."

But Mrs Mulligan was highly critical of the Taxpayers' Alliance report, saying it was two years out of date and therefore misrepresentative.

She added: "The report fully acknowledged commissioners overall cost less than police authorities, which is also the case here in North Yorkshire, and that should be welcomed not vilified.

"The public now have someone they can turn to and who can speak up for them in a way police authorities never could.”

Mrs Mulligan said her office's 2013/14 budget referred to in the report included £300,000 from the Ministry of Justice for the implementation of victims' services.

She added: "This therefore wasn’t money being taken away from policing, but specific funding from the government for victims' services.

“The public of North Yorkshire can be reassured that my office will cost over half a million pounds less compared to the police authority over my term of office, which equates to about £150,000 cheaper each year."