Huhne did not give much detail on how renewable energy will be supported or to what extent. He said he could not go into such detail after “one week in the job”.

He did emphasise, however that: “I’m very, very keen that we should develop renewable energy as a resource for this country,” and that of his “personal commitment” to renewable energy.

The Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary promised more detail on how the Government will support renewable energy “later”.

That said, he took the opportunity to reassure the oil and gas sector of continued support from the Government.

Asked about the Liberal Democrats’ stance against nuclear and the compromise reached with the pro-nuclear Conservatives, Huhne chose to emphasise how much common ground there was between the parties on other energy aspects.

He also underlined that they agreed on no public subsidy for nuclear. Furthermore, he said that as both Labour and Conservatives support new nuclear, there would be a large majority in Parliament whether the Liberal Democrats voted against or not.

With the current coalition deal, the Liberal Democrats will abstain from voting on nuclear.

Despite what some would call an abandonment of principles on nuclear and continued support for oil and gas, Huhne said he thinks this will be “the greenest Government in British history”.