Saudis To Own UK Nuclear Power

History will once again record the treachery of Gordon Brown and his surrender to Saudi Arabian oil money, that not only did he support the invasion of Iraq but also that he sold away our future national and energy security to them as well.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/20/bcnbrown120.xml



Gordon Brown has invited oil-rich states like Saudi Arabia to invest in the next generation of British nuclear power stations.


King Abdullah, pictured on a visit to the UK, will be invited to invest in the UK
The Prime Minister extended the invitation to OPEC members as part of a deal he will propose at a summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Mr Brown said he wants oil producers to allow Western energy firms to invest in their fields, increasing OPEC's extraction and refining capacity.

In exchange, he said, Western oil-consumers led by Britain should open their economies to investment from oil-states' sovereign wealth funds. In particular, he said, sovereign funds should be encouraged to invest in alternative energy sources, including nuclear power.

The government has signalled its willingness to license a new wave of nuclear power reactors in Britain, but there are doubts about the energy industry's appetite for funding new stations.

Speaking at an European Union summit in Brussels, the Prime Minister said he believed other Western governments are also becoming more willing to allow sovereign wealth funds to invest in key domestic industries.

He insisted that subject to the relevant regulatory and security checks, oil states from the Gulf and elsewhere would be welcome to invest in Britain's nuclear industry.

"Our nuclear market is open. It is open for people to invest in our country," he said. "The important thing is for the oil producers to invest in alternatives to oil."

Other Western countries have been wary about allowing Gulf states to buy strategically senstive assets. In 2006, the US Congress stopped DP World, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, from taking over the management of six US ports, citing security considerations.

Mr Brown estimated that soaring oil prices have left oil producing countries with a $3 trillion surplus that should be "recycled" into oil-consuming states' economies.

The Prime Minister said there is "huge interest on behalf of the sovereign wealth funds" in investing in countries like Britain.

He predicted that such funds will have as much as $13 trillion to invest in the coming years. Some Western nations, including France, Germany and in some cases the US have less willing than Britain to allow sovereign funds to buy into their companies.

Mr Brown will meet OPEC leaders in Jeddah on Sunday and will tell them that European leaders are beoming more responsive to sovereign investment.

He said: "One of the powerful message I take that we discussed round the table at the European Council is that there is a market for investment outside oil that can recycle some of the £3 trillion of revenue that the oil companies have made."