UK's May grilled by voters, urged to confront Trump on Paris

With less than a week until Britain votes in a national election, Prime Minister Theresa May faced tough questions from voters about her Conservative government's cuts to welfare and health spending. She was also accused by opponents of failing to stand up to the United States over its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord. May and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared before a live audience on prime-time TV but consecutively, rather than side by side.

May has refused to take part in any televised debates, saying she prefers to answer questions directly from voters. Yesterday's show may have tested that preference, as audience members criticised the prime minister for presiding over stagnant wages for nurses and cuts for those needed physical and mental care. May said the government "had to take some hard choices across the public sector" to curb spending and reduce the country's deficit. She also denied breaking promises, including her vow not to call an early election.

May said she "had the balls to call an election" because it was important to give the government a stronger mandate to negotiate Britain's exit from the European Union. May spoke after Donald Trump's announcement that he would pull out of the Paris accord sent the issue of climate change and May's attempts to bolster the trans- Atlantic "special relationship" to the top of the agenda in campaigning for Britain's June 8 election.