By Steve Bargeton, political editor

AN MSP will this week take the first step towards fast-tracking a private law through Parliament to scrap the tolls on the Forth and Tay road bridges, The Courier can exclusively reveal.

Tomorrow Mid Scotland and Fife SNP MSP Bruce Crawford will submit proposals for a Private Members Bill.

Under normal circumstances this process could take months, but Mr Crawford hopes to persuade MSPs there is no need for a lengthy and costly consultation process because the Executive has recently conducted one.

If MSPs on the Parliamentary Bureau agree that there is no need for consultation, Mr Crawford’s Bill could go before Holyrood’s local government and transport committee by the end of May or beginning of June.

There is speculation at Holyrood that all the main parties will include a pledge to abolish tolls in the manifestos for the Scottish elections next year.

At the end of March an SNP motion calling for the tolls on the Tay to be scrapped was defeated when Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs—who had declared themselves opposed to the tolls—backed an Executive amendment for another review.

More than five weeks later the transport minister Tavish Scott has not even made public the terms of reference for the latest review.

But last night Mr Crawford said he is determined to continue to press for the tolls to be removed as quickly as possible.

“I am determined to keep the issue of abolishing the tolls on the Forth and Tay road bridges alive and stop the matter being kicked into the long grass until after the Scottish Parliament elections in 2007,” he said.

“This process will test how serious Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs are about ensuring that equity and fairness is provided to users of the Tay and Forth bridges.

“It is time for the two-faced hypocrisy to be ended and for justice to prevail.

“Given that the issue of tolls on both bridges had been reviewed and examined to death, I will be arguing that the parliamentary process can be shortened because no further consultation is necessary.

“This is the fastest way to ensure that tolls are removed at an early date,” he continued.

“Following a major review of tolled bridges by the Scottish Executive, the tolls on both the Skye Bridge and Erskine Bridge have already been removed.

“If this review was seen as adequate enough to see the tolls lifted on these bridges, it is good enough reason not to carry out any further consultation on the tolls being removed on both the Forth and Tay road bridges and to allow my Bill to be fast tracked.”