Plans by the Government to allow cars and vans to travel at up to 90 mph on British motorways have been condemned.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is to launch a "consultation" to clear the way for raising the current 70 mph limit to 80 mph.

The ridiculous justification for the policy which will add to pollution, waste energy and increase danger is to stimulate the economy.

Police practice is to ignore speeding motorists unless they are going 10mph over the limit so the 2013 speed limit will effectively be 90mph.

Greenpeace UK's Ben Stewart said: "We are governed by nincompoops on crack."

His colleague Emma Gibson said: "The Saudi oil minister will rub his hands with glee when he learns of Philip Hammond's decision."

Mr Hammond claims the Government is reversing the previous government's "war" on the motorist, a phrase regularly trotted out by the road lobby to block progressive moves on safety and fuel conservation.

Mr Hammond has already distinguished himself by making it easier for drivers to speed by restricting the use of cameras.

According to Damian Carrington of The Guardian, the "free-wheeling free-marketeers" of the Tory right are to blame for "pandering to motorists and driving in the opposite direction to the real world".

"This is a selfish move that will achieve nothing other than carnage and is pandering to an uninformed few," said road safety charity Brake's Mary Williams.

"What is far more legitimate is the grief of families bereaved on Britain's motorways in horrendous pile-ups at high speed, and the rights of all UK citizens to have slower, not faster, speeds on roads to enable drivers to avoid collisions."

She pointed to evidence that raising the limit would lead to more deaths.

Green Party spokesperson Jenny Jones said: "This is a mad idea."