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PRESS RELEASE 17 MAY 2004

"The battle lines are being drawn for a major parliamentary struggle over plans to impose unending increases in Mersey Tunnel tolls.

It will come on Wednesday 26th May when the House of Lords debates the 3rd reading of the Mersey Tunnels Bill.

A last ditch bid to stop the Bill turning tunnel fees into a Toll Tax and a burden on the Merseyside economy is being led by Lord Hunt of Wirral.
The Mersey Tunnels Users Association is backing his effort to save motorists - who are mainly from the Wirral - being taxed to finance transport schemes elsewhere. Lord Hunt wants to see the Bill changed to keep faith with original legislation and pledges made for over 70 years that tolls would be reduced or stopped when the construction cost of the tunnels is met.

Merseytravel have promoted the Bill but could not find a peer from Merseyside to sponsor it in the Lords. Instead they drafted-in Lord Smith of Leigh, in Greater Manchester, to pilot it through the upper house.

The Lords have been the first real challenge, since parliamentary manoeuvres in the Commons meant opponents were prevented from trying to get it thrown out. Opposition in the Lords is being led by David Hunt, a peer and former Tory cabinet minister, who has described the provisions of the Bill as a tax on people going to work.

Public opposition to the Bill is being marshalled by the Mersey Tunnels Users Association which was formed last year and has quickly gained 5000 members.

A spokesman for the MTUA said:

"We do not support any political party but we are backing Lord Hunt to the hilt.
This is the last chance to stop a Bill that would spell disaster for Merseyside, North Wales, and huge parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. If they get the Mersey Tunnels Bill through the next target will be the proposed new Runcorn Bridge and other crossings between Liverpool and Manchester.
This will turn the whole length of the River Mersey into a psychological and economic Berlin Wall."

"And it will hit the least well-off motorists hardest as an indiscriminate tax that falls equally on the rich and the poor."

"If the Bill is not stopped Merseyside will become unique in Britain, outside London.
It will be the only place where large numbers of car drivers pay a huge extra tax on going to work.
Unlike the London Congestion Charge, this deeply unfair toll will be imposed only on those crossing the river. And in London, the charge does not apply in evenings or at weekends."

"Tolls will depress house prices and the whole economy in areas that are perceived as cut off from the focal points of a large urban area.

"If the Bill goes through we will be on a permanent upward escalator of toll increases. Tolls will never come down, even when all the debts are paid off. The Birkenhead and Wallasey Tunnels cost just over £40m to build and currently they raise £32 million a year in tolls."

"We believe that it is time tolls were brought down - or even abolished altogether - rather than being made a permanent blight on the North West economy."
Amongst other peers united in opposition to the Bill are Lord Harrison, the former Labour MEP for West Cheshire and Wirral, Lord Chan of Oxton, and Lord Alton of Liverpool."


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