The government has failed in an appeal against the decision and has blocked its attempts to reduce solar subsidies. "We want to maximise the number of installations that are possible within the available budget rather than use available money to pay a higher tariff to halve the number of installations," said Energy and Climate Change secretary Chris Huhne.

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UK unemployment rose by 118,000 in the three months to November to 2.685 million, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics said the unemployment rate also rose to 8.4% from 8.3%, the highest since January 1996. The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in December rose by 1,200 to 1.6 million.

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The fall in infaltion was helped by much-reduced year-on-year increases in fuel, transport and energy prices. Retail Prices Index inflation including mortgage interest payments has fallen to 4.8% from 5.2%. This is along the Bank of England predictions that inflation will be 2% by late 2012.

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