TOLLS on the Erskine Bridge will be scrapped from April 1 to relieve congestion on the Kingston Bridge and Clyde Tunnel.
Ending the 60p each way charge for cars is expected to cost the Scottish Executive, the owner, around GBP4m a year, and leaves the Tay and Forth bridges the only ones remaining with tolls.
The cost is dwarfed by the GBP20m lost to the economy each year because of workers and hauliers being stuck in jams in the tunnel and on the Kingston. The move follows the ending of tolls on Skye Bridge in 2004.
At first minister's questions, Jack McConnell told MSPs that next week's cabinet would discuss tolls over the Forth. Officials later confirmed the discussion would also include the findings of a review of tolls over the Clyde and Tay.
It is understood the review has recommended scrapping them on the 35-year-old Erskine Bridge to help end the environmentally damaging build-up of traffic on the two other Clyde crossings. It should also bring economic benefits to West Dunbartonshire and Clydebank on the north bank and Renfrewshire on the south.
Many Fife MSPs, however, were furious. The move is also likely to anger road users on the east coast, where Forth and Tay tolls continue, with a GBP1 cap, forcing commuters to pay to get in and out of Fife.
The cabinet is also expected to back a study into building a new bridge over the Forth. Serious corrosion was recently found in the current bridge's two main suspension cables, and its owners warned it could be forced to close to heavy goods traffic by 2014.
Despite the latest moves, a final decision on whether to build a new crossing is not expected until after 2007.
Jackie Baillie, Labour MSP for Dumbarton, said: "If these reports are true, nobody would be more delighted than myself and my constituents. We have campaigned for a long time with the local chamber of commerce and many other bodies to scrap the tolls. It will be a great benefit . . . removing a real barrier to economic development in the west of Scotland."
There was less delight in the east. Bruce Crawford, SNP MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said: "If the tolls are to be removed from the Erskine Bridge, it would be bare-faced discrimination against Fifers who use the Forth and Tay road bridges.
"It is simply not credible for Liberal Democrat and Labour ministers to remove tolls from both the Skye and Erskine bridges and leave them on the Forth and Tay.
"There will be fury in Fife about this."
Andrew Arbuckle, LibDem MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said he wanted the 80p toll over the Tay scrapped, but accepted the need for a GBP1 Forth toll.
"I've campaigned for 20 years to highlight the negative impact of tolling on the Fife economy. I see no reason at all for continuing tolls on the Tay bridge. There is no issue with congestion and it is generally low maintenance."
Many Labour MSPs will see the Erskine move as a quid pro quo for tolls stopping on the Skye Bridge, sited in LibDem country. Labour will also enjoy watching the discomfort of Tavish Scott, LibDem transport minister, as he defends tolls on the Forth and Tay after his party campaigned in the recent Dunfermline and West Fife byelection on an anti-toll ticket.
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