Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “going cap in hand from dictator to dictator,” as the Prime Minister flew to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to seek alternatives to Russian oil supplies.
MPs and human rights watchdogs are among those calling on the Prime Minister to question the Middle Eastern countries on their track records, with Saudi Arabia executing 81 criminals on Saturday.
Starmer stopped short of calling for Johnson to cancel his trip to persuade the Saudis to increase oil production to decrease western dependence on Russian energy supplies.
The Labour leader said: “Obviously there’s a real energy crisis in terms of the cost at the moment, so anything that brings the cost down now is a step in the right direction, whatever it is.”
“But going cap in hand from dictator to dictator is not an energy strategy”.
He accused the government of a short term, “slapdash” approach to tackling the energy crisis.
“There’s a pattern here which is short term, in the heat of the moment, slapdash. And that’s what happened in Afghanistan in August. The government was too slow to act; it was only in the heat of the moment it started acting, and then we all saw the consequences in August.
“It’s the same with refugees here, in terms of slow, behind the curve, in the heat of the moment – and in terms of energy, which is a shot term, slapdash approach instead of a long-term strategy.”
Starmer said instead of pursuing more supplies from Saudi Arabia, Johnson could bring down energy prices by implementing Labour’s plan to levy a windfall tax on oil producers.
Johnson downplayed his chances of managing to secure greater oil production from the Middle East in an attempt to lessen the severity of the cost of living crisis facing the UK.
In his first stop in Abu Dhabi, Johnson insisted he has raised the two countries’ poor human rights records “many, many times”, adding: “I’ll raise them all again today.”
He pointed towards Saudi Arabia announcing a £1 billion investment in green aviation fuel in Teesside.
He told broadcasters: “That’s the kind of thing we want to encourage – doesn’t in any way mean we can’t stick to our principles and raise those issues that we all care about.”
Johnson has a personal relationship with the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, and government sources suggested he could help persuade the Saudis to increase oil production.
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