Corbyn: I would have challenged Trump on climate change

Jeremy Corbyn has said he would have taken on Donald Trump over climate change, and not ducked the question as Theresa May had done at the G20 summit.

Speaking at the Durham Miners' Gala, he also said austerity was creating inequality around the world, and that as prime minister he would challenge it.

Ms May failed to raise the Paris climate change agreement with Donald Trump in formal sit-down bilateral talks at the G20 summit despite pledges to do so before the meeting.

A senior UK government official said there had not been time to raise climate change in the 50-minute bilateral on Saturday morning in Hamburg, despite the Government having previously briefed that the PM would take Mr Trump to task.

At the meeting, which overran by around 20 minutes, Ms May and Mr Trump discussed trade and tackling extremism, as well as the situations in Syria, North Korea and Iran.

Mr Corbyn said: "I would be very strongly challenging Donald Trump on his wish to walk away from the Paris Climate Change accords.

“They are crucial for the future of all of us and I hope he will understand that unless all the nations of the world get together to reduce emissions and try to preserve and protect our planet then the next generation are going to have more climate disasters, more extreme weather conditions and there's going to be more environmental refugees around the world.

“I think these are serious times and it requires serious attention to them.”

Organisers said it was the biggest gala event since the 1960s.

The Labour leader is scheduled to address the gala from the platform this evening, where he will say that the Labour Party is a “government-in-waiting” that could end austerity and scrap the cap on public sector pay rises, but only if it is able to stay united.