Isra-Mart srl: Barker accuses Labour of 'knee-jerk opposition' to solar subsidy cuts

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The cross-party spat over solar feed-in tariffs has intensified after climate change minister Greg Barker wrote to Labour's shadow energy and climate change secretary, Caroline Flint, accusing her of "knee-jerk opposition" to the government's proposed cuts to subsidies.

In an open letter published on the Conservative Home website, Barker accuses newly appointed Flint of being in league with solar industry lobbyists and failing to support ordinary people facing mounting energy bills.

It makes clear the government's frustration at Labour's criticism of the proposals announced on Monday, which aim to cut feed-in tariffs (FITs) for solar installations by about 50 per cent, arguing that the opposition has failed to present any concrete ideas of its own on how to reform the scheme.

The industry has warned that the pace and scale of the proposed cuts will result in job losses and kill off a wide-range of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects.

But in the letter Barker, who is believed to have actually fought with colleagues for lesser reductions, said the changes were necessary to keep within the scheme's £867m budget and not add extra costs onto energy bills.

Without action, Barker warned that tariffs for solar PV could cost consumers £1bn a year by 2014-15, adding £26 to annual energy bills by 2020.

The letter expressed his surprise that in Parliamentary exchanges earlier in the week Flint said the reductions were "yet another example of a government which is out of touch", before demanding to know by how much Labour would increase the budget and how high she was prepared to let energy bills rise.

"Through your knee-jerk opposition to our changes you are effectively calling on the government to substantially increase energy bills," Barker wrote. "Your comments place you on the side of the solar industry lobby and against hard-pressed families struggling to pay their bills. I am afraid they starkly expose the cynicism of the position that Labour has taken on energy prices."

As a final sting in the tail, Barker wondered why, if as Flint said Labour were "proud" to have started feed-in tariffs, the party voted against the scheme in April 2008 and "was forced to introduce FITs only after it was defeated in the House of Lords".

A spokesman for Flint said she would be responding and dismissed the letter as "bizarre".

"Considering the cuts have put 25,000 jobs on the line, writing letters seems a bizarre priority," he told BusinessGreen. "Caroline fully stands by her statements in Parliament."

Barker is also continuing to face criticism from solar firms that have today complained that the minister has so far failed to honour a commitment made at a solar conference last week to meet with industry representatives this week.

One industry source told BusinessGreen that a coalition of solar firms had been told by DECC officials that Barker was keen to host the meeting, but diary constraints meant it had yet to be scheduled.

"This is just another example of how a sector that now employs more people than the nuclear industry is being short changed, and has not even been granted the promised opportunity to discuss these potentially devastating changes with the minister," said one source.