MP angered by another Mersey Gateway u-turn

WARRINGTON South MP Faisal Rashid has criticised Transport Minister Jesse Norman for failing to keep a pledge he made to hold follow-up Mersey Gateway toll talks.

Towards the end of last year Faisal held an urgent meeting with the Transport Minister to discuss the tolling of the Halton bridges and the impact the charge is having on Warrington South residents.

During the meeting Faisal raised constituents’ concerns about the impact of the tolls on residents who need to travel to Halton Hospital – either for work or for treatment, the impact the tolls will have on local businesses, and the impact on local traffic congestion.

At that meeting the Transport Minister agreed to go away and investigate options for alleviating the burden of the toll on Warrington South residents and to meet again to discuss his findings.

In a letter to Faisal the Minister has now backtracked on his pledge to meet again on the issue, citing ‘diary pressures’.

Faisal said:“Once again my constituents are being let down by Government Ministers on this issue.

“First the former Conservative Chancellor U-turns on his commitment to my constituents on toll free travel over the Mersey Gateway. This broken promise now means my constituents are paying the price in extra motoring costs and increased local congestion. And now, the current Transport Minister is hiding behind ‘diary pressures’ as his reason for failing to keep to his commitment to meet again to discuss the issue. This is totally unacceptable, Warrington South residents deserve better.

“This is not the last that the Transport Minister and his Conservative Government colleagues have heard from me on this issue. I want to assure my constituents that I will be keeping up the pressure on the Government to extend toll free travel to Warrington South residents.”