With Homer Simpson working there as a safety inspector, a £300 million clean-up bill for the Springfields nuclear plant might come as no surprise.

But Lewes MP Norman Baker was shocked to learn the British taxpayer was being asked to fork out.

He tabled two Parliamentary questions demanding to know why British Nuclear Fuels was paying to decontaminate a polluted site in America.

But Springfields is located near Preston, Lancashire, as ministers were more than happy to point out. The only Springfield nuclear power station in the USA is Homer's workplace in cartoon series The Simpsons.

Mr Baker, the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, took the inevitable "Doh!" jibes on the chin, agreeing he had erroneously assumed the plant was in America.

He said: "It is very easy to confuse how the Simpsons run their household with the way the nuclear industry conducts itself.

"Whether it is in the US or in the UK the fact is we are bailing out the nuclear industry to the tune of billions of pounds and, whether it is in the US or the UK, that could be used for schools and hospitals."

Springfields, which makes uranium fuel rods for use in nuclear power stations, is run by the American company Westinghouse.

British Nuclear Fuels, which owns Westinghouse, needs to clean up Springfields, part of which has become contaminated with radioactive material.

Mr Baker was also looking to protect the taxpayer when he accused the Government of squandering public cash on chauffeur-driven ministerial cars last year.

The average cost of ferrying the Prime Minister and his 20 Cabinet colleagues around is £65,268 each, the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) confirmed.

Transport for his 69 junior ministers, who have to settle for slightly cheaper cars, costs an average of £54,570.

Mr Baker said Ministers should "get out of their cars and on their bikes".

He said: "The Government is spending more on ferrying ministers around than it is on monitoring air pollution."