TWO Sussex MPs are going head to head over green energy subsidies after the government announced they are slashing onshore windfarm funding.

Amber Rudd, the newly appointed energy secretary, made an announcement in parliament which is likely to mean 2,500 turbines which were due to be built across 250 farms and supported by government grants will now be axed.

The Hastings and Rye MP said consumer bills will not rise and insisted the move to scrap the Renewables Obligation would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.

However Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, has now secured a meeting with the minister to discuss the issue.

She asked why the Government was not tackling fossil fuel subsidies "instead of slashing wind, one of the most popular and affordable of the energy sources".

Ms Lucas has criticised the "logic" and said the minister claims they are "stopping onshore wind subsidies because of cost - yet fossil fuel subsidy is £1K per household, onshore wind just £10".

Speaking in the commons, Ms Rudd said: "By closing the RO to onshore wind early, we are ensuring that we meet our renewable electricity objectives, while managing the impact on consumer bills and ensuring that other renewable technologies continue to develop and reduce their costs.

"Consumer bills will not rise because of this change.

"Indeed, those onshore wind projects unlikely now to go ahead would have cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

"I believe this draws the line in the right place."

She added the plans would still allow the Government to meet its 2020 targets on renewable energy and said Britain was "reaching the limits of what is affordable, and what the public is prepared to accept."

Ms Rudd has previously said the UK is the “best place in the world” for offshore windfarms and the new cuts will have no impact on the proposed Rampion turbines due to be built off the Sussex coast.

Maf Smith, deputy chief executive of renewable energy trade association RenewableUK, accused Ms Rudd of failing to grasp the importance of onshore wind.

He added: "It's our best option for keeping the lights on and keeping our bills down. It already costs less than nuclear and other renewables, and by 2020 will be competitive with new gas.

"It's a mystery why she's chosen to disregard the high level of public support for this technology, which remains consistently at two-thirds of the population - much higher than for alternatives being championed by government.”

Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said: “Despite the Prime Minister's warm words on tackling climate change in this most important year of global negotiations, this Parliament has hardly begun but already the cheapest form of renewable energy is under attack and other renewable investors are worried that they are next.”