The Conservatives have welcomed the Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson’s indication that he is willing to accept a Conservative amendment to the Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Bill that will see FETA’s powers to introduce a road user charging scheme for traffic on the Forth Bridge removed.

In the debate on the general principles of the Bill, which it passed by 107 votes to four, with two abstentions, Stevenson said: “Should such an amendment be lodged, we would be minded to accept it, if it were properly drafted.”

David McLetchie, Scottish Conservative MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, said “This Bill should not be regarded as the end of the matter or as signifying the final demise of tolls in Scotland because lurking on the statute book we have the Transport Act of 2001 which empowers FETA to introduce a road user charging scheme for traffic on the bridge. 

“This was an issue which the Conservatives raised in this Parliament back in February of this year when we tabled an amendment calling for the repeal in its entirety of Part 3 of the Transport Act.  These are the road user or so called congestion charging provisions in the Act which were supported at the time by Labour, Liberal Democrats and the SNP and which only the Scottish Conservatives opposed. 

“We have continued to pursue this since the new Government was appointed with the Minister Stewart Stevenson, both in correspondence with myself and in the Transport Committee.  The Minister undertook to consider whether the present Bill could be amended to remove this power from FETA and I give notice that we will table such an amendment at Stage 2 of this Bill. 

“Indeed if we are successful in this objective in this Bill then we will seek support later in this Parliament for the abolition of Part 3 of the Transport Act 2001 in its entirety so that the possible imposition of a tolling regime on any road or bridge in Scotland is no more.

“Bearing in mind the persistent threats from Labour at Westminster to promote road pricing schemes, it is imperative that the Scottish Parliament says no to tolls in Scotland in what is quite clearly a devolved responsibility by cleaning up the statute book. I am grateful the Minister has thus far proved amenable to our concerns and look forward to working with him on this issue.”

Ted Brocklebank, Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid-Scotland & Fife, added: “All that remains is for Stewart Stevenson to assure us that a future government will not be able to introduce a road user charging scheme on the bridge, as previously proposed by FETA and the then Transport Minister, Nicol Stephen.  I look forward to the Minister providing more information about how such an amendment of Part 3 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 might be achieved.

“And the day when Fifers can look forward to driving across toll-free bridges all the way from Edinburgh to Dundee cannot come soon enough, ideally by Christmas but certainly by Burns Night.”

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