Swedish furniture giant Ikea has announced that it will not spend any of its £524 million ‘green energy’ fund in the UK because Government policies on renewables have made it “difficult” to invest.

Speaking to the Huffington Post, Ikea UK head of sustainability Joanna Yarrow said that, despite the UK being “one of the best places in the world” to generate wind power, Ikea’s fund would be spending its money elsewhere.

She added: “Over the last five or six years, it has become increasingly difficult to invest in renewable-energy production in the UK. For a large organisation like Ikea, which has the resources to invest, it would be great for the UK to benefit from it.”

Ms Yarrow cited the fact that a number of subsidies have been cut in a bid to save money. Government financial support for onshore wind turbines was ended in April 2016, one year earlier than planned.

Meanwhile, the UK’s solar industry lost around 12,000 jobs in the year to July 2016 after the number of installations fell rapidly as a result of cuts to Government subsidies, including the Feed in Tariff and the Renewables Obligation.

Ikea’s global ‘green energy’ fund has so far helped to construct 327 wind turbines and put almost 700,000 solar panels on top of its buildings around the world. The firm owns and operates three wind farms in the UK and Ireland.

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “Britain is one of the best places in the world to invest in ‘green energy’. Last year, a record £13 billon was invested in renewables across the UK; in November, we reiterated our commitment to spending a further £730 million per year supporting new projects.”