THE government’s flagship “green deal” home energy-efficiency programme is to fold after ministers announced that they were axing its funding yesterday.

There will be no further cash for the scheme in the light of low take-up and concerns about industry standards, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said.

Measures have been installed in around 10,000 properties under the Green Deal scheme, under which providers meet the upfront costs of installing efficiency measures and householders pay the money back from savings they make on their energy bills.

Labour’s shadow energy and climate change minister Jonathan Reynolds said the move showed the department was in “complete disarray.”

He said: “Today’s announcement simply serves to confirm that the government’s approach to energy efficiency has been a complete and utter failure.”