AS the dust settles on the General Election, the word from Wirral is - “So Chancellor, about these tunnel tolls?”

Speaking in the final week of the election campaign, George Osborne made a promise to “reduce the burden” on Wirral motorists by announcing a review of Mersey tunnel tolls which could potentially see them scrapped.

During a visit to Birkenhead, the Chancellor said: “The ratchetingup of the prices every year is just not acceptable. So I want to cut the tolls, potentially abolish them altogether, for Wirral residents.

“We’ll have our review, but it’s definitely going to happen.”

The Labour-led local authorities on Merseyside started their own review in February to get a fair deal for Mersey Tunnel users.

But now the dust has settled on Thursday’s General Election, antitoll campaigners fear pre-election pledges will be forgotten.

Their scepticism was only made worse by the ousting of former Wirral West Tory MP Esther McVey – who had been the driving force behind Mr Osborne’s pledge.

John McGoldrick, spokesman for the Mersey Tunnels User Association, said campaigners will be asking the Tory Government to follow up on the Chancellor’s pledge.

He said: “The very least that the Government could do is to stop Merseytravel making a profit on tunnels tolls.

“Over the last five years these profits have increased and Merseytravel are expecting to make £16m this year.

“Stopping the profit-taking would mean that the tolls could be very substantially reduced for all users of the tunnels.

“But without Esther McVey in the Government to remind George Osborne, we fear the Government will continue to do nothing about the tolls or the Merseytravel profits.”

Councillor Phil Davies – leader of Wirral Council and chairman of the Combined Authority – said discussions will soon take place with the Government.

He said: “The answer to the question of whether the Tories’ toll statement - made in the last week of the campaign - is, who knows whether they are going to follow it through?

“The first stage of the combined authority review is for the chief executive of Merseytravel to do a report on all the issues around the funding of the tunnels including all the options we have going forward in bringing down the costs of the toll.

“As part of that review that has already been kicked off, I think we will inevitably have to get into a discussion with the civil servants and ministers at the department for transport, because if we are going to change the way the tunnels are funded and start to bring them down, we’ll need to get into a dialogue with them because the Tunnel Act will need to be amended”

During a visit last bank holiday Monday, Mr Osborne told the Globe: “It’s very simple. We will cut the tolls for Wirral residents and small businesses on Wirral.

“They will definitely be cut, but I’m quite optimistic that we can go further and abolish them altogether for Wirral residents.”

“I’ve listened to Esther’s case. She’s powerfully made the argument that the tolls are a real burden on families, working people, and it’s also a burden on local businesses here.

“The ratcheting-up of the prices every year is just not acceptable. So I want to cut the tolls, potentially abolish them altogether, for Wirral residents.

“We’ll have our review, but it’s definitely going to happen.

“I’ve got a track record, I cut the tolls on the Humber Bridge, on the other side of the country, and I’ve just said to residents in Halton that they won’t have to pay tolls on the new bridge we’re building at Runcorn.

“Esther has used every single opportunity to get this issue in front of her fellow ministers in the government.

“She’s raised it with me in the cabinet room and every time I’ve been up here, so she deserves credit.”