Nicola Sturgeon has asked David Cameron to think again about Tory plans to scrap onshore wind farm subsidies in a letter to the Prime Minister. It read:

Dear David,

I note the UK Government’s announcement today to end new public subsidies for onshore wind projects across Great Britain.

I strongly disagree with a decision which has such a profound impact on a key sector of the Scottish economy and which was made without our consent. This goes against the spirit of the provisions in the Scotland Bill.

The proposals have a disproportionate impact on Scotland given the pipeline of projects with consent and in planning here.

Today’s announcement puts this huge investment pipeline at risk along with the jobs of 5400 people who are employed in the onshore wind sector in Scotland. Scottish Renewables estimates that Scotland could lose £3billion of investment because of this decision.

Onshore wind is the cheapest way of producing large scale renewable electricity in the UK, a fact admitted by your own Government’s Secretary of State for Energy in an interview today.

Keith Anderson of Scottish Power estimates that bringing onshore wind to an end prematurely will cost consumers £2 to £3billion as other more expensive generation will be required instead.

It is perverse to scrap the most cost-effective route to our shared renewable ambitions and put consumers at risk of higher bills.

Many in the industry have warned that there may be a legal challenge by a company or companies whose investment in planned schemes has been rendered useless by this decision, and that may raise more costs for the taxpayer as well as the bill payers.

I ask that you look again at the impact these proposals will have on the Scottish and the wider UK economy and find an alternative approach.