Sir Keir Starmer to visit Gulf as he seeks stronger economic and defence ties with UAE and Saudi Arabia

Published

7 months ago

December 8, 2024

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Sir Keir Starmer will travel to the Persian Gulf today as he tries to build stronger trade ties with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

In his first visit to the region as prime minister, he will aim to boost investment in the UK and deepen defence and security partnerships, said Number 10.

The two Middle Eastern countries are among Britain’s “most vital modern-day partners”, it said in a statement.

After flying to the Gulf on Sunday night, Sir Keir will meet UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed on Monday.

Later that day, he will fly to Saudi Arabia where he will have talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Sir Keir is facing calls from human rights groups to raise with Saudi leaders the rising number of executions.

The PM said: “Driving long-term growth at home requires us to strengthen partnerships abroad.”

He added that his trip will “build a network of partners” focused on “driving high-quality growth”.

Trade worth billions

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are both major investors in the UK. Trade with the Emirates is worth £23bn, while trade with Saudi Arabia is worth £17bn.

More than 7,000 UK businesses export goods to Saudi Arabia, with such goods and services supporting almost 90,000 jobs across the country, while 14,000 UK businesses sent goods to UAE last year.

Saudi Arabia is also the UK’s largest defence exports market, worth £3.8bn a year to British industry.

Stability in the Middle East is set to be “high up the agenda” during the visit, including the need for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and the urgent acceleration of aid into Gaza, the No 10 statement added.

‘Execution crisis’

Human rights legal group Reprieve has called on Sir Keir to raise what it described as an “execution crisis” with Saudi leaders.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed 300 people in 2024, its highest-ever total in one year.

Reprieve’s deputy executive director Dan Dolan said: “When Boris Johnson visited Mohammed bin Salman in 2022, three days after the mass execution of 81 people, Sir Keir Starmer was rightly scathing of Johnson’s unconditional embrace of one of the world’s most prolific executioners of protesters.

“Now he is the prime minister, he has the opportunity to address the escalating execution crisis in Saudi Arabia.”

The trip comes after the state visit earlier this week by the Qatari emir who agreed a new long-term green energy partnership, deepened defence and security ties and discussed the importance of regional stability.

Following his Gulf trip, Sir Keir is expected to travel to Cyprus on Monday night.

He will have talks with President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday before meeting British troops deployed over Christmas.

Politics

Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future

Published

3 hours ago

July 9, 2025

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Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future

The Chinese owner of British Steel has held fresh talks with government officials in a bid to break the impasse over ministers’ determination not to compensate it for seizing control of the company.

Sky News has learnt that executives from Jingye Group met senior civil servants from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) late last week to discuss ways to resolve the standoff.

Whitehall sources said the talks had been cordial, but that no meaningful progress had been made towards a resolution.

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Jingye wants the government to agree to pay it hundreds of millions of pounds for taking control of British Steel in April – a move triggered by the Chinese group’s preparations for the permanent closure of its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe.

Such a move would have cost thousands of jobs and ended Britain’s centuries-old ability to produce virgin steel.

Jingye had been in talks for months to seek £1bn in state aid to facilitate the Scunthorpe plant’s transition to greener steelmaking, but was offered just half that sum by ministers.

British Steel has not yet been formally nationalised, although that remains a probable outcome.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has previously dismissed the idea of compensating Jingye, saying British Steel’s equity was essentially worthless.

Last month, he met his Chinese counterpart, where the issue of British Steel was discussed between the two governments in person for the first time.

Jingye has hired the leading City law firm Linklaters to explore the recovery of hundreds of millions of pounds it invested in the Scunthorpe-based company before the government seized control of it.

News of last week’s meeting comes as British steelmakers face an anxious wait to learn whether their exports to the US face swingeing tariffs as part of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Sky News’s economics and data editor, Ed Conway, revealed this week that the UK would miss a White House-imposed deadline to agree a trade deal on steel and aluminium this week.

Jingye declined to comment, while a spokesman for the Department for Business and Trade said: “We acted quickly to ensure the continued operations of the blast furnaces but recognise that securing British Steel’s long-term future requires private sector investment.

“We have not nationalised British Steel and are working closely with Jingye on options for the future, and we will continue work on determining the best long-term sustainable future for the site.”