THE Government will meet half the costs of policing the recent Labour Party Spring Conference.

The Home Office said it was to give Northumbria Police, which spent nearly £3m on security, £1.44m to cover the additional expenditure the force had to meet.

Hundreds of delegates attended the three-day conference at the Sage music centre in Gateshead earlier this month, which was seen as a launch pad for Labour's General Election campaign.

Police had 1,600 officers on duty and closed roads and bridges around the Quayside areas of Newcastle and Gateshead in a major operation that was later praised by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

However, campaign group Fathers4Justice managed to breach the heavy security cordon by climbing on top of the Tyne Bridge to hold a 16-hour high-level protest.

Hundreds of vehicles were also stopped and searched by police, while CCTV and security barriers were installed.

Northumbria police had applied for a Government grant, nevertheless it was feared that taxpayers would have to foot the entire bill for policing the conference.

Councillor Mick Henry, chairman of Northumbria Police Authority, said its remaining costs included police salaries and overtime payments which it would have expected to pay whether the conference took place or not.

He said: ''This Home Office payment effectively pays back every scrap of additional expenditure which Northumbria Police Authority was required to make to provide the level of security needed for this prestigious event.

''Not only that, it has enabled us to invest in a range of new or upgraded specialist equipment for which we have not had to pay a penny and which will prove extremely useful over the coming years.

"We now have the invaluable experience and many of the technical resources necessary to police future major events on Tyneside, and this will bring enormous financial benefits to the region in the years to come."