POLICE and crime commissioner Bill Longmore has been forced to defend his office costs after a taxpayers' watchdog highlighted a £1.3 million yearly bill.

A trawl by The Taxpayers' Alliance has revealed that the total £52 million cost of the elected figureheads around the UK could fund 2,200 chief constables if they were axed.

The analysis on West Mercia Police, where Mr Longmore came to power in 2012, reveals:

- His total costs were £1.3 million in 2013/14, with the PCC employing 17 staff, two of whom are paid to do PR work

- The bill works out at £1,374 for every 1,000 members of the electorate, £700,000 more than the lowest-cost PCC office, which is Thames Valley

- Some 46 per cent of those costs go on staffing and remuneration, a rise of 12 per cent on the old, disbanded police authority it replaced

Overall, the findings puts West Mercia fairly middle of the road when compared to other PCC offices around the country.

The total office cost actually matches the old overall expense of the police authority, but Mr Longmore's team say that spend has been slashed by £74,000 for 2015/16, the current financial year.

Andrew Champness, the chief executive of the PCC's office is on £98,727 a year while Mr Longmore gets £75,000.

The Taxpayers' Alliance says it wants more PCCs to look at seriously slashing their costs, revealing the old police authorities cost the public a combined £54 million a year, virtually the same.

It also says the cost 'per voter' varies wildly, from as little as £624 in Thames Valley to £2,979 in Cambridgeshire.

Jonathan Isaby, the alliance's chief executive, said: "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 these new commissioners must be paramount.

"Those commissioners who have been empire building or stocking their offices with PR staff must be asked whether that money wouldn't have been better spent on bobbies on the beat."

A spokesman for Mr Longmore said: "The comparisons the Taxpayers’ Alliance is making are overly simplistic - it is not fair or accurate to try and compare the cost of police authorities with that of police and crime commissioners.

"PCC's have a far wider remit and more responsibilities than police authorities, including a statutory duty to provide services for victims of crime as well as to commission such services to ensure best value.

"PCCs also have far more responsibility to carry out engagement with the public and this has already resulted in the establishment of far closer working relationships with partners."

He said the old police authority upped its costs by £100,000 in 2011/12, and Mr Longmore has since kept his pledge to not spend any more.