Will the UK be the joker in the pack at Paris climate talks? | Damian Carrington

David Cameron will sit down at the summit's high stakes poker game with little but bluff after his government's discarding of endless trump cards

If the crucial Paris climate summit is the highest stakes poker game of international diplomacy ever held, David Cameron will sit down on Monday with little but bluff. The UK has thrown away trump card after trump card, with the latest being 1bn of support for carbon capture and storage, dumped by the chancellor, George Osborne, on Wednesday.

Trust is the vital ingredient in the UN climate negotiations, because they are built on voluntary pledges. Each nation has to believe that every other nation will honour its pledges to cut carbon emissions or provide green funds. But the UK government's actions since it won the general election in May will make other countries think the UK is not good for its stake in the game.