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Gales and rain hit Christmas travel

PEOPLE WANTING to get home for Christmas face major disruption as strong gales and torrential rain threaten to cause travel chaos. Severe weather warnings are in place for much of the UK today until 9am on Christmas Eve, threatening to cause localised flooding across southern England and Wales. Strong winds are expected across much of the UK, with winds of up to 80mph in coastal areas of southern England, while Scotland is braced for sleet and snow storms and icy roads, the Met Office said.

£500m scheme introduced to boost electric car ownership

Newspress Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg is today launching a £500 million scheme to boost electric and hybrid car ownership in the UK.   Perks for electric car drivers The funding will provide extra perks to encourage more drivers to trade in their old, conventionally powered cars for electric or hybrid vehicles. Councils will be able to apply for funding if they come up with plans to encourage people to ditch their petrol and diesel cars – for example, by offering free parking to electric vehicles and giving them the right to drive in bus lanes.

Mandelson to announce help for car makers

Lord Mandelson is the man charged with finding ways to fund UK Car purchases (yes, he of the dodgy mortgage debacle – at least he should know a few tricks!) as the credit crunch has dried up funding, leading to an unprecedented drop in new car sales in the UK. Mandelson is due to make a statement in the Lords just after 3pm today, outlining the help the government is going to offer to ailing car makers. Central to this package is expected to be a funding channel directly from the Bank of England to inject liquidity in to the car financing sector.