A TORY councillor who claims Mersey Tunnel tolls will remain frozen this year has stirred up a political storm.

Merseytravel board member and Moreton Conservative councillor Chris Blakeley has been assuring people via his website this week that the controversial tolls will not rise for a second year running.

Yet any decision on whether to raise tolls from £1.40 to £1.60 each way - originally proposed last year but deferred because of the credit crunch - will not be taken until Merseytravel, the tunnel's administrative body, meets early next month.

The matter has not even been discussed between the largest political group on the board, the Liberal Democrats, who are due to meet with Merseytravel's director of resources Jim Barclay to discuss the issue this Thursday - in advance of the whole board's budget discussions on February 4.

The Globe has spoken to several members of the Merseytravel board and all of them - apart from Cllr Blakeley - agree that there is not yet even an agenda for the February 4 budget meeting.

The board's chairman, Sefton Labour Cllr Mark Dowd, said that without an agenda it was impossible to say what would be discussed or any decisions that would be made.

Eastham Cllr Dave Mitchell, a Liberal Democrat member of the Merseytravel board, said: "This is blatant electioneering by Cllr Blakeley.

"We simply do not know what will happen at the meeting on February 4. There literally isn’t an order of business yet, let alone any kind of decision.

"It is impossible to say what is going to be talked about the budget meeting because so far, there isn’t even an agenda."

The 18-strong Merseytravel board is made up of councillors drawn from across the five Merseyside councils of Wirral, Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens.

Nine of them are Liberal Democrats, six Labour, and three Conservatives. The board is effectively “hung” with the Tories holding a powerful casting vote.

Cllr Blakeley this week insisted to the Globe that Merseytravel’s resources chief Mr Barclay, along with its chief executive Neil Scales, had assured him that no one would be recommending a toll rise.

"The authority will have the final decision but that’s what I've been told," he said.