The Government last night put itself on collision course with environmental campaigners after launching a legal challenge to its solar subsidies ruling.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) appealed to the Supreme Court against a High Court ruling that its plans to cut solar subsidy payments are illegal.

The legal case, which has been played out at the highest levels of court in the UK, has so far cost the taxpayer in excess of £60,000.

The case hinges on the Feed-in Tariff, a cashback incentive provided by Government to those who produce their own solar energy. The scheme was particularly popular in the South West due to its high levels of solar radiation. But the previously attractive subsidy of 43p per kilowatt of energy was reduced to 21p – a decision which was declared illegal by the High Court.

A DECC spokesman said: "We want to see the available funding spread as far and wide as possible, making FiTs a scheme for the many, not a scheme for the few."

Friends of the Earth's executive director, Andy Atkins, said: "This misguided appeal will only add to the uncertainty hovering over the renewable clean energy industry."