YORK MP Hugh Bayley has visited a city firm and spoken out against changes in green energy schemes that have seen its work reduced in recent years.

Mr Bayley met Sue Lamb, the Managing Director of York based renewable energy company Solarwall to talk about the Government's ECO funding scheme, which replaced a system brought in by the Labour government to make energy companies to insulate vulnerable homes to cut down their heating bills.

Ms Lamb said: "There are plenty of households needing insulation still but access to the ECO funding is complex, admin heavy, volatile, uncertain and controlled by the energy suppliers. Low-income households are going to get a raw deal with no access to support this winter and as a company we have never experienced such frustrating, challenging and precarious times in the last 37 years."

Mr Bayley said that the green programme introduced by the Labour government had created jobs in firms like Solarwall, but those jobs have been put at risk by the coalition government's decision to replace.

He added: "Britain’s energy market is not working for ordinary families and businesses.

"The coalition government should be supporting the insulation and solar industry, rather than putting it at risk and making life more difficult for those who are struggling to pay rising energy bills."