On October 31, the Government announced the feed-in-tariff (FITs) for solar energy was to be cut by 50 per cent as of mid-December.

On the same day, it was also announced that two new power stations were to be built in Yorkshire.

Cutting FITs at such short notice is nothing but chaotic. What any new industry needs is a stable environment in which to grow. Surely a government that claims to champion small businesses, decentralisation, and to be the “greenest ever” must realise this?

Currently, the UK solar industry employs 25,000, compared with 3,000 in 2010. Before this announcement, this figure was expected to reach 360,000 by 2020.

In comparison, the two new plants are expected to provide 1,000 jobs. No mention is made of the number of permanent jobs.

Feed-in-tariffs have been running in Germany since the Nineties and produces a substantial slice of German energy needs.

The actual costs of the FITS is less than £1 per household and is there to aid a fledgling industry. After all, the nuclear industry was heavily subsidised in its infancy.

So what is behind this? Is the Government simply chaotic? Or has there been massive lobbying to kill off an infant industry? Or perhaps your readers can think of a third explanation?

Phil Fletcher
Barnet and Enfield Friends of the Earth