News Article
Opposition Maintains Opposition To Cuts
Britain is facing a negative "triple whammy" on jobs, growth and the environment as a result of the Government's decision to slash subsidies for solar power, Labour has said. Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said the impact of the move "could not be more real", with 25,000 jobs "on the line", thousands of businesses "at risk" and others excluded from having solar under the new rules and "denied the chance to control their energy bills".
The Government announced last month that subsidies for household solar electricity were to be halved under proposals put out for consultation. The widely-expected cut, which ministers say is necessary to make small-scale renewable subsidies sustainable would come in for panels installed from December 12.
Speaking during an Opposition day debate, she said: "The truth is the Government's cuts to the feed-in tariffs (FITs) for solar power are a triple whammy. Bad for jobs and growth, bad for the public and bad for the environment too."
She added: "It takes some audacity to try and claim credit for a scheme that was enacted, introduced and came into force under the last Labour Government, but to try and take credit for a scheme you are now scrapping really takes the biscuit.
"The record will show that while Labour began this growth industry, this Government's policies have all but killed it in its infancy."
Ms Flint said FITs costed less than one pound per household per year and claimed people might be laid off this Christmas as a result of an "ill thought through strategy".
Labour's motion states Government's cuts to feed-in tariffs "go too far, too fast, will hit jobs and growth in the solar industry, undermine confidence in the Green Deal and deter investment in the wider green economy".