Jonathan Reynolds MP, Labour’s Shadow Energy and Climate Change Minister, commenting on the closure of the Government’s flagship Green Deal, said:

“This is a shocking act of incompetence by Government Ministers. A fund that was supposed to last the year, and compensate for the cuts to energy efficiency measures announced last December, has run out after just six weeks.

“It will leave many customers who have paid £100 for a Green Deal assessment out of pocket, with little prospect of them having the work they were promised done, and an insulation industry in despair at the stop-start nature of this Government’s policy.

“We have always said this was the wrong way to make pay-as-you-save energy efficiency work. The Government must now provide clear answers on how they will resolve the mess they have created. Given the scale of incompetence and waste of public funds, I am writing to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee to ask her to investigate this matter fully.”