In a keynote speech at the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister said Britain will continue to be the second biggest contributor to the UN, but warned that 30% of the annual £90 million funding for agencies would be ring-fenced for those showing ‘sufficient results’. She said the UN must change ‘in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century’. This echoed President Trump's earlier message that financial contributions to the UN were now under threat. Mrs May vowed Britain ‘will never let anyone destroy our way of life’, following recent terror attacks. She condemned the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons in Syria and North Korea’s controversial nuclear weapons programme, and warned Donald Trump that withdrawing from the Paris climate change treaty ranked alongside North Korea’s nuclear missile tests as a threat to global security.

Recent research suggests that more than a quarter of England's secondary schools do not offer religious education, despite the law saying they must do so. The National Association for RE Teachers, which obtained the unpublished official data under the Freedom of Information Act, says that missing the subject leaves pupils unprepared for modern life. But the main union for secondary head teachers said many schools covered religious issues in other lessons through conferences, citizenship lessons or assemblies. By law, RE must be taught by all state-funded schools in England, with detailed syllabuses agreed locally. The data showed that 26% of secondary schools were not offering RE lessons; 34% of academies were not offering RE to 11 to 13-year-olds; and almost half were not offering it to 14 to 16-year-olds. As more schools become academies, the problem could escalate.

Liam Fox, secretary of state for international trade,  has visited Mozambique, which is in a debt crisis after surreptitiously borrowing from two London-based banks in 2013. The loans remained hidden until 2016: none were agreed by the Mozambique parliament, so they were illegal. Commenting on Mr Fox's visit, the director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign said, ‘The UK needs to take responsibility for the actions of these banks in arranging $2 billion of loans to Mozambique. Credit Suisse should be investigated as to whether it undertook the enhanced due diligence required by UK money-laundering regulations. Furthermore, the Government should act immediately to ensure all loans to governments given under UK law are publicly disclosed when they are given.’

Theresa May has told the UN that people need to wake up to the horrors of modern-day slavery, and victims must have confidence to come forward and be given the support they need. She added, ‘Modern slavery will only be defeated by making more people aware of the horrific abuses going on in their own communities’. The Prime Minister has the power to do something about this on the international platform. Two years ago, as home secretary, she brought in the most up-to-date laws in the world to crack down on modern slave-drivers. On 19 September she spoke out in an attempt to secure a global commitment by the UN to acknowledge the scandal and unite with tough action against the perpetrators. She urged leaders ‘to work collaboratively and internationally’, and ‘to look at their own situation’.