Dawe's fear as SNP set to scrap bridge tolls

Abolishing the tolls on both the Forth and Tay bridges was one of the key announcements due to be made by First Minister Alex Salmond in a statement to the Scottish Parliament this afternoon on his government's priorities.

But the move would mean the loss of 15 million a year of income from the charges. And the Scottish Executive would also have to find around 13m to meet the remaining debt on the Tay bridge.

Revenue from the Forth tolls are used for maintenance of the bridge and other transport projects in the area.

Councillor Dawe said: "That money was very directed, it was not just going into the general coffers of the country. Clearly they are now going to have to find that money from somewhere else. The question is: where is that going to come from?"

Labour and the Liberal Democrats said during the election they would scrap the Tay tolls and scrap charges for single-occupancy cars crossing the Forth, but all other vehicles on the Forth Road Bridge would continue to pay.

The SNP campaigned strongly to abolish the tolls altogether, arguing it was unfair to continue them when bridge tolls everywhere else in Scotland had been scrapped.

The Tories also back abolition of the tolls.

However, the Greens - with whom the SNP has a co-operation agreement - are resolutely opposed to lifting bridge tolls.

Greens co-leader and Lothians MSP Robin Harper said the Nationalists had not consulted him on today's announcement.

And he said the Greens would not support the proposal. "It is a recipe for more congestion," he said. "We need to keep open the option of raising tolls or introducing what we call 'clever tolls' which would mean people with three or four people in the car paying far less than drivers who are on their own."

New transport minister Stewart Stevenson is expected to announce the timetable for scrapping the tolls in the near future.

Mr Salmond's statement this afternoon was expected to be a wide ranging one on the early goals of his minority administration.

But the future of Edinburgh's tram scheme and the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link - both of which the SNP has promised to scrap - were not expected to feature.

After his statement, the new First Minister was set to face a grilling from the other party leaders this afternoon including Labour's Jack McConnell.

The SNP is also set to act to give ministers new powers over controversial proposals for ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Forth.

Cabinet secretary for the environment Richard Lochhead is also to make a separate statement on the issue tomorrow.

The future of Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini and solicitor general John Beckett was expected be cleared up today.

Both were appointed by the previous Labour-Lib Dem administration but Ms Angiolini is expected to carry on in her role, though she will not attend cabinet.