Manufacturers are giving away cartons of milk to highlight the threat to a European Commission subsidyscheme under which primary schools can receive milk at a discounted price.
There have been reforms: planning changes have made local objections easier to ignore, and the subsidyscheme was tweaked on April 1st to give extra cash to more expensive technologies, such as offshore wind turbines.
Of the nine electric cars so far confirmed as qualifying for the subsidyscheme, the three that will be available for delivery in January are the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, the Smart fortwo electric drive and the Peugeot iOn.
On the issue of government intervention he faced a tough challenge from a tea-partier in the primaries because his business participated in the cash-for-clunkers car-subsidy scheme (anathema to tea-party conservatives), but this doesn't seem to have hurt him much within the wider Republican base.
As the government sought to clarify the situation, Housing Minister Mark Prisk denied suggestions by Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls that the Help to Buy scheme was potentially a second-home "subsidy".