TRANSPORT Minister Charlotte Atkins visited Liverpool yesterday for talks with Merseytravel and to view progress on its transport strategy.
The government has pledged £175m to the £225m cost of Merseytram's Line One and is currently considering funding Line Two.
But the future of the whole scheme was thrown into disarray two weeks ago when Liverpool City Council asked for a last minute re-routing of Line Two to be considered. One of the two short-listed bidders pulled out due to the confusion.
Mrs Atkins said: "They (the council) should be working side by side with Merseytravel and it gives out the wrong message to the government when a city council is not looking to give its backing to such a scheme.
"Then, for a bidder to pull out, doesn't give a good impression.
"It's pretty exasperating for Merseytravel putting forward the sort of plans the government is asking for, and then you have a city council putting up its hands and saying 'we're not sure,' when 93% of the public are in favour of it."
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