Safety-related warning lights like airbags and ESP are checked, plus the towbar electrics if a 13-pin socket is fitted.

Can you be more specific?

Is this things like electric seat adjustment needing to work? YES!

The full list is in this website in the motoring news section, just now when i was looking it was at the bottom of the page.

Yet another case of a Government deciding things which have been absolutely fine for years are apparently now the biggest hazard we face.

No doubt some bigwig will say 'well you could buy an older car, less electrics and kinder to the environment in the long run' yes we would do if you HADN'T SCRAPPED THEM ALL!!!

Brown had very little to do with the scrappage scheme, that was more Darling's brainchild and another entry onto a long list of clangers during Darling's time as Chancellor and previously Transport Minister.

Unlike North Korea theres no one single man in charge in Britain, we have seperate departments with people able to make their own decisions yet obviously working within certain peramiters. The Prime Minister as such is a nobody, i theorise the most useless member of the cabinet gets the role of PM because the PM doesnt do anything, just flies round the world waving at people, giving speeches and signing forms.

Wouldnt it be folly to absolve Darling of responsibility for everything his department does and just blame Brown for it? When people like a Prime Minister they'll blame the Chancellor for a poor Chancellor decision, when people dislike a Prime Minister they blame the Prime Minister for everybody elses errors. I dont think everybody else in the Government should be responsibility-free, to say 'Browns in charge its his fault' just lets Darling off the hook for instance.

Very poor show.

Ministers are appointed by the PM - that's where the responsibility link is.

Thats such a weak argument. In that case why have ministers at all? Why not just have the Prime Minister on his own - Kim Jong Cameron or something - as he'll get the blame for everything anyway.

In your world, Ministers can operate 100% free of responsibility, do whatever they like and be completely unaccountable because they can just blame the Prime Minister. God what a scary country that'd be. Essentially you're saying nobody in Government below the PM should ever have to take responsibility for anything they do. I dont want to live in that country. Such thinking makes a mockery of democracy.

The PM may appoint ministers but ministers are grown ups on £65,000 a year and shouldnt need the PM to hold their hand and do everything for them, nor should he have to take responsibility for everything they do.

Just looked it up and yes Cabinet Minister's pay is in the same region as the Prime Minister's pay so for anybody to suggest one man is 100% responsible and the rest can act like chimps and shift responisibility is frankly bonkers.

Of course they all work within an agreed framework, usually an agreement set up when a party takes office of what basic policies are but that doesnt mean they'll all share the same opinion on how to achieve the Government's basic aims. In my view the most important person in Government is the Chancellor, the PM doesnt do the budget, the Chancellor does and its the Chancellor who decides where your money goes. Plenty of people (on here included) have strong criticisms of Gordon Brown's time as Chancellor, are you telling me that was all Blair's fault instead and Brown should in fact be completely absolved of responsibility for his 10 years in charge of the nations bank account?

Im not saying Brown opposed the scrappage scheme as i doubt he did but my point was he was not in charge of such policy. The scrappage scheme was announced by Alistair Darling in the 2009 budget and Darling (and Prescott before him) have pretty poor records as Transport Secretary.

The 2 year MOT via EU looks set to come here, I think the 2012 MOT rules are a pre-emptive strike to soften the blow for the testing industry.