Parliament set to debate Trump's UK visit after petition gets more than 800,000 signatures
DONALD Trump's state visit to the UK is expected to to be the subject of a Parliament debate, after cross-party MP's joined hundreds of thousands of petitioners who have called for it to be cancelled.
By Aletha Adu
PUBLISHED: 00:00, Mon, Jan 30, 2017 | UPDATED: 07:31, Mon, Jan 30, 2017
Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, Tim Farron, leader of the Lib Dems and senior Tory MP's have said it is against Britain's values to receive the President.
Corbyn said the visit should be called off until the President cancels the 90-day ban on citizens from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen entering the US.
Corbyn was joined by cross-party mps who want to suspend Trump's visit to the UK
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Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives
He added: "Is it really right to endorse somebody who has used this awful misogynistic language throughout the election campaign, awful attacks on Muslims, and then of course this absurd idea of building a wall between themselves and their nearest neighbour?
"I think we should make it very clear we are extremely upset about it, and I think it would be totally wrong for him to be coming here while that situation is going on. I think he has to be challenged on this."
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Tim Farron said: "Theresa May would be placing the Queen in an impossible position of welcoming a man who is banning British citizens purely on grounds of their faith."
On Sunday night, more than 800,000 people had signed the petition to "Prevent Donald Trump from making a state visit to the UK", because his "well documented misogyny and vulgarity" would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.
Mrs May personally delivered Trump, an invitation from the Queen beckoning him to visit the UK later this year when she met Trump last Friday.
Although the petition quickly passed the 100,000 signatures needed for it to be considered for a debate in Parliament, Downing Street sources have confirmed that Mrs May will not be withdrawing her invitation to President Trump because it remains "substantially in the national interest", according to the Telegraph.
Mo Farah said he feared he may not be able to visit his US family again because of the ban
Shortly after Sir Mo Farah and Nadhim Zahawi, an Iraqi-born Tory MP for Stratford-on-Avon led criticisms of Trump's travel ban, the Foreign Office confirmed, Britons with dual citizenship will be exempt form the controversial ban.
Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives said: "A state visit from the current president of the United States could not possibly occur in the best traditions of the enterprise while a cruel and divisive policy which discriminates against citizens of the host nation is in place.
Mrs May personally delivered the Queen's invitation for Trump to visit the UK
"I hope President Trump immediately reconsiders his Muslim ban."
Alistair Burt MP, a former Tory Foreign Office minister, said the "optics" of President Trump's visit were "very bad" and there should be a "joint decision" to delay the visit.
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