Conservative Government "a threat to the green revolution"

Plans by the Conservative Government to cut subsidies to the green energy sector could mean less investment in clean energy as well as job losses, according to Plymouth Liberal Democrat chair Hugh Janes.

Amber Rudd, the Conservative Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, has announced that she wants to end the Renewable Obligation, in April 2016. This change will mean energy companies will no longer be required to buy green electricity at a pre-agreed price.

Commenting, Hugh Janes said, "For five years - as part of the Coalition - the Liberal Democrats had to fight hard to get the Conservatives to back renewable energy. They just don't get the need to back environmental policies, and now that they are in government on their own we are seeing all too clearly just what the Tories are really like.

"The plan we had in government was to give support to the renewable energy sector whilst it built up. Once the sector could stand on its own two feet the subsidies would have been reduced and eventually ended. But the Conservatives are stopping this support far too early, before the sector has established itself. Now that they are cutting support for renewables, we risk the loss of a lot of jobs and more reliance on coal and nuclear, with all the resulting pollution and contamination.

He continued, "Before the election, I feared what the Conservatives would be like in government if they were freed of the need to work with the Liberal Democrats. On their own in power we are seeing just how ideological they can be and how little they care about the environment."