British Prime Minister Theresa May shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York City | Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Theresa May takes swipe at Trump's climate stance in UN speech
British PM tells General Assembly that the UN must demonstrate better value for money.
By	Paul Dallison
9/20/17, 10:06 PM CET
Updated 9/22/17, 11:32 AM CET
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday rebuked Donald Trump for pulling out of the Paris climate accord.
In a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, May mentioned the Paris deal as an example of how countries can work together to promote "fairness, justice and human rights." Without mentioning Trump by name, May said it was "the fundamental values that we share — values of fairness, justice and human rights — that have created the common cause between nations to act together in our shared interest and form the multilateral system.
"And it is this rules-based system which we have developed — including the institutions, the international frameworks of free and fair trade; agreements such as the Paris climate accord; and laws and conventions like the Non-Proliferation Treaty — which enables the global co-operation through which we can protect those values."
The British PM warned that undermining international institutions — including the U.N. — threatened countries' national interests.
"If this system we have created is found no longer to be capable of meeting the challenges of our time — then there will be a crisis of faith in multilateralism and global co-operation that will damage the interests of all our peoples," she said.
May gave her speech an hour before she was scheduled to meet Trump.
She also criticized Syria and North Korea, accusing them of "deliberately flouting — for their own gain — the rules and standards that have secured our collective prosperity and security."
May also threatened to withhold money from the U.N. budget until it can demonstrate better value for money.
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"The U.N. and its agencies must win our trust by proving to us and the people we represent that they can deliver," she said. "That is why we will remain generous in our funding but set aside 30 percent to be paid only to those parts of the U.N. that achieve sufficient results."
May was watched and applauded by her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson.
The visit to the U.N. General Assembly was overshadowed by speculation about Johnson's future, after he wrote a 4,000-word article in the Telegraph setting out his vision for Brexit.
Paul Dallison
pdallison@politico.eu
A year-long series examining the politics and issues driving today's energy and climate conversation in Europe.
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