A planned Government appeal against a High Court ruling that its solar power cuts are illegal would waste of taxpayers' money, according to Friends of the Earth (FoE).
Instead, the environmental lobbying group is calling upon Ministers to focus on putting the solar industry back on a stable footing.

Late last year, the High Court ruled that government plans to rush through cuts to solar payments were illegal. It said the Government had no realistic prospect of winning an appeal. The High Court decision followed a legal challenge by Friends of the Earth and two solar firms - Solarcentury and HomeSun.

An FoE statement said: 'An appeal also means solar businesses can't be sure what tariff payment solar projects installed now will receive. The uncertainty is crippling businesses and costing jobs.'

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) outlined its grounds for appeal in a move designed to help speed up the legal process.

'The High Court's decision was based on the view that the proposed approach to implementing new tariffs for solar PV is inconsistent with the FIT scheme's statutory purpose of encouraging small-scale low-carbon electricity generation. We disagree with this for a number of reasons,' DECC said in a statement.

'The overriding aim of the proposed reduction in tariffs for solar PV (as set out in the recent consultation) is to ensure that over the long term as many people as possible are encouraged to install small-scale low-carbon generation (including other technologies as well as solar PV) and benefit from the funding available for the FIT scheme.'

FoE is calling on the Government to:

- Put solar back on its feet.
- Reduce tariff rates in a planned way from February 2012 to protect jobs.
- Increase the budget for solar.
- Allow more people - including householders and disadvantaged communities - to benefit from the technology.

FoE's head of campaigns Andrew Pendleton said: 'Trying to appeal the High Court's ruling is an expensive waste of taxpayers' money. The Government must expand the scheme - with all the tax revenue the scheme generates, this can be done at no extra cost to bill payers.

'Ministers should end business uncertainty and protect jobs with a clear plan to reduce payments from February - in line with falling installation costs.'