THIS Government promised us an integrated transport policy. Yet it cannot even co-ordinate its own attitude to the car.

Today ministers announced they would force motor manufacturers to give private customers the same discounts on new cars as fleet buyers. Prices would be slashed by 30 per cent, some sources suggested - although now a ten per cent cut seems more realistic.

Even so, that is excellent news for British motorists. They have been ripped-off for years, paying thousands of pounds more for a vehicle than their Continental counterparts, as a hard-hitting Competition Commission report confirmed.

Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers has already proved himself to be the motor industry's ally, putting his career on the line to save Rover. Now he is the champion of the motorist, forcing through price cuts that will prompt a car-buying spree. Could any Government be more car-friendly?

Hang on a minute. This is the same administration that is supposedly committed to persuading us to abandon our cars in favour of public transport. And to do so, it has pushed up petrol prices until they are the dearest in Europe.

While we pay up to 84p a litre, the Spanish driver pays less than 52p a litre. That is because the Chancellor takes more in fuel tax than anyone else - 86p out of every pound we pay at the pumps, to be exact.

Whatever motorist save on the price of their car, they will soon lose on exorbitant fuel costs. Oddly enough, there is no suggestion that the Competition Commission could investigate this enduring element of rip-off Britain.

Mr Byers should consider linking the size of the discount on a new car to the amount of pollution it creates: the greener the vehicle, the bigger the price cut. Such a move might at least give the impression that the Government has done some integrated thinking on transport.