A NATIONAL campaign group has joined both of Warrington's MPs in urging the Government to scrap tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge.

Former Chancellor George Osborne made a pledge that motorists in Warrington and Cheshire West and Chester would have tolls waived ahead of the 2015 General Election.

But many Warrington motorists are facing a £1,080 yearly bill to cross the site when it opens to traffic later this year following a Government U-turn in January.

At last Monday's full council meeting, councillors unanimously backed a motion calling upon Warrington North MP Helen Jones and Warrington South MP Faisal Rashid 'to lobby the Government for a waiver' of the charges for residents and businesses based in the town.

Mr Rashid has vowed to build on his election campaign pledge in Parliament.

He said: "I won't promise anything that I can't deliver.

"I will be lobbying to bring the issue of reviewing tolls back to the table.

"I have spoken to Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury about it and we are working on a strategy for this.

"We are hoping to put a question forward on it after September."

Mrs Jones added: "I have not yet received a copy of the council's resolution but I will be supporting my colleague Faisal, who has been campaigning on this matter for some time."

Campaign group National Alliance Against Tolls is also calling for a Government rethink.

Group co-ordinator John McGoldrick said: "The Government must realise that tolls are an inefficient and unpopular way of paying for roads and river crossings.

"But as it was Labour who first put forward the idea of paying for this scheme from tolls, it will be hard for the two MPs to persuade a Tory Government to pay any attention to their pleas.

"It would help if local people contacted the Department for Transport and signed any new petitions against the tolls.

"It is not impossible to remove tolls.

"All of the tolls in Scotland were removed by 2008 and the Prime Minister promised in the recent election that the tolls on the Severn crossing to Wales would be removed next year.

"The official forecast is that the tolling of the crossing between Runcorn and Widnes will discourage people crossing the river there.

"Some of the traffic will divert to the crossings in Warrington and will add to congestion there.

"The authorities claim that the tolled crossings will boost the economy but only the most naive people will believe that.

"The real impact of the tolls and the punitive fines will be to discourage people from living, working or trading in the area from Liverpool to the M6."

Both the new Mersey Gateway Bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge will be tolled.