Green Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones has claimed the Conservative government is “determined to cool” the UK’s solar market and criticised a “failure of leadership” as the reason behind London’s faltering solar deployment.

In an interview with Solar Power Portal, Jones said that the newly-elected government could not be trusted to support renewables and that it was determined to “clear a path” for nuclear and fracking technologies “that no one wants”.

“In the place of clear, stable subsidies and policy regimes needed to bring confidence in the renewable industry, allowing long term planning, the Government’s chaotic and unpredictable policies are stifling and undermining its growth,” she said.

Focal to Jones’ criticism is last week’s proposals from the Department for Energy and Climate Change to curb subsidy support for solar. The decisions, defended by energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd last week, have been roundly criticised and Jones said the changes would hold back renewable energy drives which are “needed to prevent irreversible runaway climate change”.

Yesterday environmental group Friends of the Earth confirmed it had written to DECC in order to question the legality of the consultation period it had allotted for proposed changes to Renewable Obligation support, claiming that the timeframe could be adjudged to flout the government’s own standards.

In her capacity as a London Assembly member, Jones also slammed London’s faltering solar PV deployment as the result of a “failure of leadership” from Mayor Boris Johnson, more of which can be read here.