Ken Livingstone's plans to buy cheap oil from Venezuela were in doubt yesterday amid gathering local opposition to the controversial deal.

The Mayor of London had been due to arrive in Caracas from Cuba yesterday to sign a pact with Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, who is engaged in a fierce battle for re-election.

The trip was cancelled at the last minute, raising questions about whether the deal to provide aid to one of the richest cities in the world was seen as politically risky, with the elections less than a month away.

The main opposition leader in Venezuela attacked the plan as “a crime”, and appealed to the London mayor not to take money from Venezuela’s poor.

“That is political corruption,” Manuel Rosales, the opposition candidate, told foreign journalists. “I ask the (London) mayor not to commit that injustice to Venezuela, because he is taking a part of our wealth and doing grave harm to the country.

“It is not just the person that commits the crime, but the accomplice ends up becoming a part of the crime.”

Mr Livingstone’s office said that it had not been possible to sign the oil deal “due to the time constraints of the Venezuelan presidential election campaign”. Mr Livingstone, a great admirer of Señor Chávez, had decided not to proceed with the trip but remained confident that the agreement will be signed in the “near future”, his office said.

The Government of Venezuela said that the deal would be signed by their Foreign Minister in London.

Venezuela is the fifth-largest oil exporter, but 38 per cent of its population falls below the United Nations poverty line. A UN report last week said that 18 per cent of the population suffered from hunger or malnutrition in 2003, up from 11 per cent a decade before.

Señor Chávez has been giving subsidised oil to allies in other countries in an attempt to extend his influence in the region and form alliances with other outspoken detractors of George Bush. Cuba receives about 100,000 barrels of cut-price oil a day from Venezuela and sends doctors to Venezuela in return. Under the terms of a deal tentatively agreed on a visit to London, Señor Chávez will provide cheap fuel for London buses in return for advice on street cleaning.

Mr Livingstone said: “President Chávez and myself have agreed on an oil deal, which will enable us to help poorer people in London. And I might do a bit of electioneering for Mr Chávez. I think he’s been a very good president.”

However, the Venezuelan President’s opponent in the election was incensed that London would be taking aid from an under developed country with serious social problems.

“For me, it’s a crime that there is hunger, unemployment, poor services, hospitals that don’t work, roads that are a disaster — and the Government is giving away our wealth,” Señor Rosales said.

“Both the person giving it away and the person receiving it are sinning. Ethically, [Mr Livingstone] should not accept it. In the name of Venezuela, we would ask him not to ruin the country any more.

“If London needed [the cheap oil], that would be one thing. But we’re talking about London here,” he said.

Señor Rosales has promised that he will cancel all foreign aid deals signed by Señor Chávez if he wins the election on December 3.

CONTROVERSIAL FRIENDS

Fidel Castro Ken Livingstone said this weekend that the Cuban President’s revolution was “one of the high points of the 20th century”

Wang Qishan When the Mayor of Beijing visited Britain this year, Mr Livingstone said: “There is no such thing as one country with a perfect record”

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qarawadi The cleric who condones suicide bombers was welcomed to London by Mr Livingstone in 2004

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