POLITICIANS have clashed over tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge nine days before the general election.
Former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne pledged that drivers in Warrington and Cheshire West and Chester would have tolls on the crossing waived ahead of the 2015 General Election.
But many of Warrington’s motorists have faced a yearly bill of up to £1,080 to cross the site following a Government U-turn.
Labour’s Warrington South parliamentary candidate Faisal Rashid has welcomed his party’s manifesto commitment to review all tolled road crossings if it secures power on December 12.
He said: “If the Mersey Gateway was across the River Thames in London, it would have been free from the very start.
“I firmly believe that the tolls on the Mersey Gateway should be scrapped. I will be pressing the incoming Labour Government to remove these tolls as a matter of urgency.
“It was an act of complete bad faith for the Tories to promise in 2015 to remove the tolls before the general election, only to go back on their word immediately after they got elected.
“The Tories have a long track record of broken promises just like this.”
But Tory chiefs in the borough have hit back.
A spokesman for Warrington Conservatives said: “This is just another example of Labour promising free stuff to buy votes, it’s a policy which is not costed in their manifesto and just a few weeks ago they confirmed they had no intention of removing tolls from bridges in England – just like their Brexit plans, they’re making it up as they go along.
“People in Warrington can see through Labour’s election strategy, there’s no longer a magic money tree, they’ve found an entire forest.
“The only way to pay for all their reckless spending promises will be through higher taxes on hard working families.”
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