Mr Laister said the sector had created “thousands of opportunities” for people on both sides of the Humber Estuary, including Grimsby and Immingham, with Siemens Gamesa one of the major employers in Hull, manufacturing blades for wind turbines.
Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace, said renewable energy was much cheaper than fossil fuels but Tice, the Reform MP for Boston and Skegness, said the growth in wind turbines was “directly linked to the increase in electricity bills”.
He said: “Explain to me why our electricity bills are now the highest in the western world and those countries who have not got lots of renewable energy have got much lower bills?
“Why has America got electricity bills a third of ours? I will tell you why, because they use their own gas.”
Colin Davie, councillor for economy, environment and strategic planning at Lincolnshire County Council, said he supported offshore turbines but believed Trump was right to question the UK’s policy.
He said: “We should use oil and gas in the short term while we transition to more nuclear reactors and an investment in nuclear to make sure we have a zero carbon future.”
A DESNZ spokesperson said: “Our priority is a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations, and we will work with the sector to protect current and future generations of good jobs.
“We need to replace our dependency on unstable fossil fuel markets with clean, homegrown power controlled in Britain, which is the best way to protect billpayers and boost our energy independence.”