Environmental campaigners and businesses have urged government to provide clarity over its position on the low carbon economy.
According to reports being carried in The Daily Mail and The Sun, Cameron has told his advisors to “cut the green crap from energy bills”. The reported rhetoric follows the Prime Minister’s public pledge to “roll back green levies”.
Responding to the reports, REA chief executive Dr Nina Skorupska called for immediate clarity over government’s stance. She said: “This has gone too far. The public debate around energy policy has gone from fever pitch to farce. Our members are already reporting problems securing investment, and this further undermines confidence. With a capacity crunch looming and firm action on climate change ever more urgent, these investments cannot wait.
“We need a clear statement from the government – not one party or the other, not one department or the other – but from the government, on its commitment to delivering the low carbon energy infrastructure this country so desperately needs.”
Downing Street’s response to the alleged comments has done little to quell fears, after telling The Guardian that it did not “recognise the language” being reported.
Joss Garman deputy political director at Greenpeace said that the reported statement undermines the Conservative’s pre-election campaigning. He said: “If David Cameron thinks the road to electoral victory will be found in attacking the very policies that he once passionately advocated then he is sorely mistaken.
“The British electorate are a sophisticated bunch who will see through his chameleon tendencies and conclude this attack is not an act of leadership but one of cowardice as he panders to the extreme wing of his own party and tries to claw back support from UKIP.
“The real crime is that every time David Cameron reaches for the dog whistle playbook he undermines thousands of jobs in the green energy sector and threatens future investment. Now that really is crap.”
With investor schemes spared from the ‘green levy review’, the most likely candidate for cuts would be the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). The latest figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that 273,000 homes have had energy efficiency measures installed under the scheme which is designed to help the most vulnerable.
