The Home Office has finally agreed to fund the cost of policing US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice's visit to Liverpool, following a campaign by the Liberal Democrats.

An already overstreched Merseyside police force was left to pick up the nearly £300,000 bill for protecting her from potential terrorists and the thousands of peace protesters who marched to protest against her involvement in the ilegal war in Iraq.

With communities already needing more bobbies on the beat, Lib Dems believed the government should find the money.

Condoleezza Rice visited Liverpool at the request of then foreign secretary Jack Straw, yet the government was unwilling to pick up the bill.

Local people where further angered when it emerged that the Home Office had agreed to pay for similar policing costs from her visit to Jack Straw's Blackburn Constituency the following day.

"This is a great victory for Merseyside," said Lib Dem Councillor Colin Eldridge. "Yet again Labour tried to cheat the people of Merseyside but thanks to pressure from the Lib Dems and local people, they where forced to pay up. "