A mass lobby is being organised today at Westminster to urge MPs to block Government plans to impose deep cuts to the solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) in three week’s time.
Thousands of people across the
solar industry are expected to turn out for the rally at 2.30pm outside the Houses of
Parliament, where tomorrow MPs will debate Government proposals to cut the
FiT for solar installations by more than 50 per cent by December 12. Organisers of the rally, say the drastic cuts, announced with just six weeks notice, will put at risk tens of thousands of jobs in the solar industry.
Commenting on today's mass lobby, Gaynor Hartnell, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association (REA), which lobbied for the implementation of the FiT, said: "Whilst many companies and customers can live with the reduced tariff rates, it’s the speed of implementation that has been so disruptive."
Mass lobbyMass lobbies are a long established tradition in the UK to put pressure on MPs. Technically, anyone is entitled to go and lobby their MP in the House of Commons whenever Parliament is sitting.
Organisers of today’s rally are urging people from across the solar industry, as well as environmental groups and other supporters, to meet their MP in this way and protest about the cuts. They are being advised to enter the Central Lobby and fill in a form known as a 'green card’, summoning their MP to see them.
Jobs at businesses at riskThose organising today’s mass lobby say 39,000 jobs have been created by the UK’s solar power sector and through its proposed cuts, the Government is now backtracking on its commitment to the industry and to microgeneration in general.
The sudden announcement has already led to hundreds of cancelled orders. Unless, the Government changes its mind, 4,000 businesses could be at risk and tens of thousands of jobs could be lost before Christmas, says the 'Cut, Don’t Kill’ campaign, which is behind the rally.
The REA is calling for more. It wants the Government to find more money in the FiT budget in order to safeguard jobs.
"The recipe is simple. First get the tariffs right," said Hartnell. "Secondly, more money should be allowed into the budget, or else we’ll see around 25,000 individuals made redundant. Thirdly, stop this happening again, through regular reviews of tariffs."
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