Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Conservative shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho also gave speeches at the Energy UK conference in London.
The Liberal Democrats have set out a plan to increase investment in clean energy and change how new renewable projects are paid for. They say their plan could halve energy bills by 2035.
In his speech, Sir Ed contrasted his party’s proposals with those of Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, claiming he was inspired by US President Donald Trump and would “put up bills, destroy jobs and hurt the economy, while climate change rages on”.
“So now the cross-party consensus on investing in renewables has been shattered,” Sir Ed said. “And it would be incredibly complacent and dangerous to assume it will just put itself back together on its own.”
Sir Ed said supporters of renewable energy “either take on the myths or we fail families for at least a decade”.
In her speech, Coutinho said the UK had among the highest electricity costs in the world.
She said given carbon emissions were still rising globally, “many would agree our approach to climate change isn’t working in the way it’s supposed to”.
Coutinho, a former energy secretary, said the UK government needed to be more “clear-eyed and honest with the public” about the cost of renewables, once subsidies, grid investments and other factors had been taken into account.
“So if the argument is renewables are cheap, let’s look at the full costs and examine that and present those facts to the public,” Coutinho said.