A committee of MPs has attacked transport ministers for being "superficial and evasive" about the environmental damage being done by the government's aviation policies.

The Commons environmental audit committee said the government response to previous recommendations was "poor and not of the standard we would normally expect".

A report published on Monday called on ministers to explain how they have addressed environmental concerns in their plans to expand air transport in the UK.

"We reject the accusation contained in the government response that our figures for the impact of aviation in relation to other UK emissions are misleading and inappropriate," added the MPs.

"The underlying truth is not in dispute: that the global warming impacts from aviation are forecast to increase massively just as we are striving to make huge cuts in emissions from all other sectors of the UK economy."

They added that it was "bizarre" that the Department for Transport's calculations on aviation in relation to other UK emissions assumes that there will be no reduction in greenhouse gases, other than carbon dioxide, over the next 50 years.

"In responding to our previous report on this topic, the DfT memorandum, which is superficial and evasive, still manages to score an extraordinary own goal," said committee chairman Peter Ainsworth.

"In attempting to massage down our figures, the DfT has assumed that there will be no reduction in greenhouse gases, other than carbon dioxide, over the next 50 years. This is both irresponsible and intellectually dishonest.

"I am also appalled by recent reports that the DfT interfered with the publication of the [Office for National Statistics] Environmental Accounts and the accompanying press release, in an attempt to force ONS officials to delete any reference to the staggering increase in emissions from transport, and in particular air transport, since 1990.

"This reinforces the perception that the DfT is behaving like a maverick department, indifferent or even actively hostile to the need to tackle global warming - despite the emphasis which has recently been placed on this by, amongst others, the prime minister."

Liberal Democrat committee member Sue Doughty added that the report "reveals that the government has lost every shred of respectability in its approach to reducing greenhouse gases".

"Our report should have been regarded as a wake up call, but the government seems to have gone to sleep on the job," she said.