UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that the “special relationship” between the UK and the U.S. has shaped the world affairs for decades.
May, who is in the U.S. to meet with President Donald Trump, the first foreign leader since Trump’s inauguration, in her address to the Republican Congress ahead of the meeting, called the UK-U.S. relations “one of the greatest forces for progress this world has ever known”.
“It has been America’s destiny to bear the leadership of the Free World,” adding that it has been a privilege of the UK “to share that burden and to walk alongside you at every stage”.
The Prime Minister lauded the U.S. for helping to “maintain freedom in Europe” by intervening in World War I, and “defeating fascism” in World War II.
“These interventions showed that “open, liberal societies will always defeat those that are closed, coercive and cruel,” she said.
The British Premier recalled the U.S. and UK as key partners in “opening the world” for freedom based on the common heritage going back to the Magna Carta.
The British Prime Minister added that the two nations have a responsibility to lead.
May said she was particularly proud, as leader of the Conservative Party, to address her American counterparts “as dawn breaks on the new era of American renewal”.
May, while defending Brexit, said leaving the EU would enable Britain to become “even more global and internationalist in action and in spirit”.
The British Prime Minister supported Trump’s call for U.S. allies to pay more for their military commitments.
“Sovereign countries cannot outsource their security and prosperity to America,” she said.
“Our two countries together have a responsibility to lead because if others do, it is bad for Britain, bad for America, and bad for the world.”
May, however, said instances of the U.S. and UK intervening militarily in foreign countries must only come when the two countries national interests are at stake.
“The days of Britain and America intervening in sovereign countries in an attempt to remake the world in our own image are over.
“But nor can we afford to stand idly by when the threat is real and when it is in our own interests to intervene,” she said.
Speaking about the struggle against Islamic State, May urged caution to differentiate its “extremist and hateful ideology” from the “peaceful religion of Islam”.
“With President Putin, my advice is to engage but beware,” May said.
She noted that conflict between the West and Russia is not inevitable but urged the U.S. and the UK to “engage with Russia from the position of strength”.
She spoke strongly about the UN, NATO, the World Bank and the IMF, but said they needed reforms to conform to the current realities.
“Some of these organisations are in need of reform and renewal to make them relevant to our needs today.
“But we should be proud of the role our nations, working in partnership, played in bringing them into being.”
According to her, the UK-U.S. special relationship is “one of the greatest forces for progress this world has ever known”.
May is expected to meet with Trump on Friday in Washington, D.C.