GOVERNMENT-approved moves to reduce car prices while trying to encourage drivers out of vehicles have been criticised in the House of Lords. Lord Jenkin of Roding said: 'The Government has made a huge number of statements about the need for sustainable transport and to get people out of cars, and with much of that I have sympathy. However, the Department of Trade and Industry now seeks to make it easier to buy many more cars by making them cheaper. It is very difficult to see how these matters can easily sit next to each other.'

Responding for the Government, Lord McIntosh of Haringey said: 'If it is perfectly possible for cars to be offered more cheaply, we believe that consumers should obtain them more cheaply.'