ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners welcomed the news today that sales of new diesel cars have plummeted, as drivers increasingly choose greener vehicles.

Last month, sales for diesel models fell by 31 per cent, while overall sales for the year were down by 17 per cent.

A total of 2.54 million new cars were registered in 2017, compared with 2.69 million the previous year, indicating the first drop in sales for six years, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

Greenpeace UK said consumers were “sending a clear message to the car industry” that it must move on from “polluting diesel.”

The charity’s clean air campaigner Paul Morozzo said: “Diesel cars have been fuelling a major air pollution crisis that has made our cities’ air toxic and harmful to breathe.

“Electric vehicles and hybrids are better for both air quality and the climate and if the UK car industry fails to invest in the technologies that consumers want, then they will be left behind in the race for this trillion-dollar industry.”

Alternatively fuelled vehicles reached a record market share of 4.7 per cent last year.

In November's Budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced a rise in tax on new diesel cars from April 1.

But Labour warned that the drop in sales could be another sign of a failing economy.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said: “The government’s mismanagement of the economy and mishandling of the Brexit negotiations has shaken consumer and business confidence and it’s concerning that the sales of new cars are falling.

“The British car industry is a vital part of our economy, directly employing up to 170,000 people.

“Labour’s industrial strategy will set out a radical programme of investment and genuine partnership between industry and government to protect vital jobs and build an economy that works for the many, not the few.”

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes predicted that the market would continue to decline in 2018, partly due to Brexit uncertainty.

The news follows the “dieselgate” scandal of 2015, when Volkswagen was found to be fitting its diesel vehicles with devices which cheated emissions tests.

It also comes as the government has been ordered by courts to issue its plans for meeting European Union limits on nitrogen dioxide, much of which comes from diesel vehicles.