Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2016 to Question 32463, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on his announcement of 23 April 2015 of a special scheme to help small businesses in Runcorn and Widnes using the new Mersey Gateway Bridge and the existing Silver Jubilee Bridge from 2017.

The Secretary of State for Transport met with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 29th February 2016 and discussion included discount schemes on the Mersey Gateway Crossing.

Officials in the Department for Transport and Her Majesty’s Treasury are continuing to work through the implications of any further extension of user discounts to the cost of the scheme and to the commercial structure of the contracts already signed for the scheme.