"Line One has planning permission and much of the preparatory work has already been undertaken – £70m has already been spent."

It is estimated that it would take one million car journeys off the road each year, create 1,000 construction jobs, and 300 permanent jobs.

Last month, Transport Minister Sadiq Khan appeared to kill off Merseytram in a letter in which he stated that Merseyside had missed its chance to get the scheme into the RFA which runs until 2018/19.

He also stated: "My officials have informed me that they have not seen any recent assessments but in the past there have been question marks over the scheme’s value for money. I am told that the question of its strategic importance vis-a-vis other schemes in the Liverpool area, such as the need to improve access to Port of Liverpool, is still not clear."

This has been interpreted as some to meant that Merseytram could substitute the port access scheme.

He also warned local authorities to "look carefully at their continued development of the [Merseytram] scheme.

Since the letter was made public, he has told leaders that he was "misinterpreted" and is due to write another letter to "clarify" his position.

Last night, Cllr Robertson said: "I think it is total madness. We are in the process of having the road project reappraised.

"Access to the port is vital to the regional economy. If we were to drop the scheme to improve access, we would be saving up problems for the future."

"It would appear that Labour politicians are all over the place on Merseytram."

He said transport minister Sadiq Khan had killed off the project only to say days later that he had been misunderstood.

"I would love for someone to tell me what’s going on. At face value this has become a bit of an embarrassment all round.

"Taking money away from the port scheme is not very clever."