Boris Johnson to push for Saudi green energy funding in Riyadh visit

Boris Johnson to push for Saudi green energy funding in Riyadh visit

Boris Johnson is hoping to line up major Saudi investment in British renewable energy on a visit to Riyadh on Wednesday, during which he will urge the desert kingdom to increase oil productionto tackle market volatility.

But ahead of the trip the UK prime minister was accused by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of going “cap in hand from dictator to dictator” to beg for help, arguing that Johnson should have put in place a more balanced energy strategy years ago.

Johnson will fly to the Middle East overnight on Tuesday for talks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in an attempt to convince the two countries to help boost energy supplies and stabilise markets disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The UK announcedlast week that it would phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

Lord Gerry Grimstone, investment minister, has been wooing the Saudis for months over a possible sovereign investment into UK green energy projects, which are at the heart of Johnson’s plan to reduce Britain’s consumption of imported oil and gas.

Last year the UAE pledged to invest £10bn in UK clean energy, technology and infrastructure; Grimstone hopes the Saudi government will also put money