The Executive announced an end to the Skye toll after it bought the bridge back from its private owners for £27 million.

Liberal Democrat north Fife councillors and Tay Bridge Board members Andrew Arbuckle and Maggie Taylor said the move underlined the unfairness of charges on the Tay crossing.

Councillor Arbuckle (Newburgh and Tay Coast) said the principle had now been established whereby tolls could be removed, and he said it was time the same happened on the Tay Bridge.

Labour’s Dunfermline East MSP Helen Eadie, who called for the abolition of tolls on the Forth and Tay road bridges in July, said it would be unfair for tolls to remain on these bridges while they were abolished in Skye.

“At the moment the people living and working north of the River Forth are simply not getting a fair crack of the whip,” she said

Councillor Arbuckle said, “As far as I’m concerned, motorists have paid their dues over the last 30-odd years on the Tay Bridge.

“I know there’s a review of toll charges on the three remaining toll bridges — the Tay, Forth and Erskine — but surely the principle has now been established.

“These are part of the national road network. It was acknowledged by the Scottish Executive and Jack McConnell this morning that there is an adverse economic impact from paying tolls. The Tay Bridge has taken more than £30 million out of the economy over the last 30 years.

“There is also the issue of who should pay for the repair bill at the Tay. I argue it is part of the road network and therefore the Scottish Executive, which runs the trunk road network, should pay up.

“The next stage will be to wait and see what happens with the Executive’s review of bridge tolls — we have been promised it within six months. I hope they will announce removal of tolls on the bridge. If not, I will start, or continue, campaigning.”

Councillor Taylor (Tayport and Motray) said, “This is wonderful news for the Skye Bridge people. Hopefully we will be able to follow with a similar decision at the Tay. It is something many councillors in Fife have been fighting for and we will keep it to the fore.”

Transport Minister Nicol Stephen announced an end to the Skye tolls at a 7.30 am press conference in Kyleakin, on the island side of the controversial crossing.

Scrapping the tolls, which for five years have been frozen at £11.40 for a return car journey, was first aired by the Lib Dems as part of their 1999 coalition pact with Labour.

The party said it wanted to end “the discredited tolling regime for the Skye Bridge” by January 1, 2005.

The Skye bridge was the first ever PFI (private finance initiative) deal and cost £39 million to build.

Its tolls were based on the old ferry fares, but were bitterly opposed as the highest in Europe.

Within a day of the bridge opening in October 1995, the protests started and more than 100 people have been convicted for refusing to pay.

Tolls on the Tay and Forth bridges currently stand at 80p for south and north-bound motorists respectively. Both were built in the mid-sixties.

The Tay Bridge Board last week raised the prospect of even higher tolls to help fund £12 million of vital repairs.

The Executive said it was prepared to make only £4.6 million available over two years, leaving the board with a £7 million deficit.

Mrs Eadie said, “I am very pleased that our Labour-led Executive has fulfilled the commitment of the Partnership Agreement to abolish the tolls on the Skye Bridge.

“However, in a recent parliamentary question to the Transport Minister, Nicol Stephen, I asked if the Executive would be considering the removal of the tolls on the Forth Bridge.

“The background to that question was that the demands were already coming from MSPs who were arguing for the removal of tolls on the Erskine Bridge.

“The logic being that if tolls were to be removed on the Skye Bridge, not yet paid for, what equity and justice is there in continuing to demand tolls for those bridges in Scotland that have been completely paid for over and over again.

“The Minister responded to my question by saying that there will be a review of all bridge tolls across Scotland.

“However, he did add the caveat that the Forth Road Bridge falls into a special category in that the Forth Estuary Transport Authority has been set up and approved by the Scottish Parliament to continue to gather tolls so that the public transport infrastructure can be funded in and around the bridge head area.

“This is all very well, but there has never been an ‘In Principle’ debate of the issue of bridge tolls in the Scottish Parliament.”

Mrs Eadie said people living in Fife were getting “the worst of both worlds”.

“I wholly support the view of helping parts of Scotland where the issues of peripherality, tourism and disadvantage can be proven.

“However, in my opinion, the Scottish Executive does need to think about equity, social justice and an approach to roads and transport policy that take account of these key principles.

“At the moment the people living and working north of the River Forth are simply not getting a fair crack of the whip.

“I would like to see the Scottish Executive remove the tolls on the Forth Bridge and to ensure that the decisions on where our economy grows ensures that surrounding areas like the former coal mining communities all around Scotland get a much fairer share of new location of commercial and industrial investment decisions.

“After all, if the congestion charges are to go ahead in Edinburgh, Fife and parts north of the River Forth are set to get the worst of both worlds.”

Dundee West MSP Kate Maclean (Labour) said the Executive could not justify scrapping tolls on only one of Scotland’s bridges.

“I suspect it will be a big issue — probably more so for people in Fife, as around 90% of people in north-east Fife work in Dundee,” she said.

“I’m sure that the Minister will have more to say on the matter but I don’t think there is any justification in the Executive just looking at the Skye bridge in isolation,” she added.

Dundee East SNP MSP Shona Robison also called on the Executive to look again at reducing or abolishing tolls on the Tay Road Bridge.

“We have campaigned long and hard for the scrapping of the Skye Bridge tolls and are pleased that it has happened,” she said.

“It does leave an anomalous situation for the Tay Bridge, where there has just been a proposal to put up tolls.

“People are quite rightly asking why the charges are going up and the Executive needs to look at all of the tolls in Scotland and what the options are — either abolishing them or reducing them.”

Since the Tay Road Bridge was completed in the mid-1960s at a cost of £4.4 million, more than £30 million has been collected in tolls.

Twenty-five per cent of the tolls go to pay staff wages, with a further 30% covering finance charges.

Until the need for repairs to the bridge’s bearings arose, the building costs were due to have been paid off completely in 2016.

A Hogmanay party is already being planned to mark the scrapping of the Skye bridge charges, but the veteran anti-tolls campaigner Robbie the Pict refused to celebrate.

He said, “People have been mugged for nine years. There is no cause for celebration.”

He is calling for a public inquiry and royal pardons for protesters who were convicted for refusing to pay.

However, Transport Minister Stephen hailed the decision.

“This is a historic day for everyone on Skye,” he said. “We made a commitment last year to end the tolls on Skye Bridge. Today that promise has been delivered.”