PM defends Saudi Arabia trip despite human rights record

Boris Johnson has defended his imminent trip to Saudi Arabia, saying the West needed to build "the widest coalition" to stop relying on Russian oil and gas.

The PM will fly to the country soon to hold talks on energy supply.

But the trip comes after the Saudi government faced criticism for executing 81 men in one day.

Tory MP Crispin Blunt said the action left Mr Johnson with "exquisite difficulties" in asking Saudia Arabia for help with oil supplies.

But the PM told reporters if the West was going to "avoid being blackmailed" by Russia's President Vladamir Putin, it needed to move away from using his country's hydrocarbons and explore other partnerships.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, energy and fuel prices were on the rise across the West.

But since the war began, the cost has rocketed even further, with petrol reaching record highs in the UK of more than £1.60 a litre in recent days.

Mr Johnson said the "Russian aggression" in Ukraine had "helped to trigger a spike in the price of hydrocarbons, a spike in the price of oil" - but there had been a longer term problem.

"Vladamir Putin over the last years has been like a pusher, feeding an addiction in Western countries to his hydrocarbons," he said.

"We need to get ourselves off that addiction."

After the mass execution in Saudi Arabia, some have called for the PM to cancel his trip.

Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said in the Commons on Monday: "Actions do speak louder than words.

"If the prime minister goes in the next few days to Saudi Arabia, we will be sending a very clear signal that no matter what we say, we're not really bothered about this sort of thing."

Pushed on the human rights record of Saudi Arabia, Mr Johnson said part of building "long-term security of energy supply" in the UK was to make sure in the "short-term... sure we are not as dependent in the West as we currently are on Russian oil and gas".

Mr Johnson said: "It's vital, if we are going to stand up to Putin's bullying, if we are going to avoid being blackmailed by Putin in the way that so many western countries sadly have been, we have got to get ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons.

"We need to talk to other producers around the world about how we can move away from that dependency."

He added: "We need to make sure we build the strongest. widest possible collation to ensure Vladimir Putin does not succeed, that we wean ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons, and that's what the UK is helping to do."

While the Gulf talks are about increasing production of oil and gas to compensate for reduced Russian supplies, Mr Johnson also wrote in the Telegraph newspaper that his promised Energy Security Strategy for the UK would step up wind energy, exploit solar power and make a "series of big new bets" on nuclear energy.

Further drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea was also a suggestion he made.

A spokesperson from Labour said it was "right in this time of crisis to look for alternative sources of oil for the UK beyond Russia".

But they added: "The only reason we are having to do this is because of 12 years of Conservative government failures to deliver energy independence for the UK.

"Importing oil can only ever be a short-term response and won't address the long challenges to our energy security or the cost of living. "