PRESSURE was growing on the UK Government last night to cancel Donald Trump’s state visit amid a growing backlash against his travel ban on refugees and people from seven mainly-Muslim countries.
The US president accepted an invitation from Prime Minister Theresa May to visit Britain later this year, where he would be hosted by the Queen and treated to state-visit pomp and ceremony.
However, a petition calling for the visit to be halted was last night heading toward a million signatures, way past the 100,000 threshold which could see it debated by MPs.
SNP foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond told Sky News the visit was “a very bad idea”, saying: “You shouldn’t be rushing into a headlong relationship with the President.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “[It] would be wrong for it to go ahead while bans on refugees and citizens of some countries are in place.”
Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said a state visit “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.”
Trump’s hugely controversial travel ban has sparked a global outcry.
Graham Guest, who started the petition, said just 60 people had signed by Saturday, but the ban had sent support rocketing. He fears Trump will use the visit and the accompanying photo opportunities with the Queen to bolster his image.
“A state visit legitimises his presidency and he will use the photo opportunities and being seen with the Queen to get re-elected,” said Guest.
“The wording in the petition is quite precise: , as I actually say that he should come here as the head of government to do government-to-government business. At the end of the day he is still the president and we’ve got to live with that. But there’s no reason why he should get all the pomp and publicity of a state visit.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told ITV: “I am not happy with him coming here until that ban is lifted.”
Tim Farron, the LibDem leader, said: “Any visit by President Trump to Britain should be on hold until his disgraceful ban comes to an end.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan said: – the first Muslim mayor of a major western city – also demanded the state visit be cancelled.“I am quite clear, this ban is cruel, This ban is shameful, while this ban is in place we should not be rolling out the red carpet for President Trump,” he said.”
A spokesman for No 10 said: “An invitation was extended and has been accepted.”
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is pushing Trump’s team to exempt Britons with dual citizenship from the ban. He is speaking to the president’s senior adviser Jared Kushner and chief strategist Stephen Bannon to find a way to stop travelling Britons being affected. Downing Street said May ordered Johnson and Home Secretary Amber Rudd in a conference call to telephone their American counterparts to make representations about the ban, which affects all refugees and many Muslims.
Johnson earlier branded Trump’s controversial policy “divisive and wrong”, and criticised the decision to “stigmatise” people based on their nationality.
Citizens from seven mainly Muslim countries – Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen have been barred temporarily, along with all refugees.
Johnson said: “We will protect the rights and freedoms of UK nationals home and abroad. Divisive and wrong to stigmatise because of nationality.”
May faced a backlash after repeatedly refusing to criticise Trump over the ban when questioned during a press conference on a visit to Turkey.
No 10 later said the Prime Minister did “not agree” with the policy and would act to help UK citizens.
Somalia-born Olympian Sir Mo Farah, who has lived and worked in America for six years, said he faced having to tell his children he could be stopped from returning home.
“It’s deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children that daddy might not be able to come home - to explain why the president has introduced a policy that comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice.”
Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi, who was born in Baghdad in Iraq, said he felt demeaned and discriminated against after being told he would be hit by the ban.
“For the first time in my life last night I felt discriminated against, it’s demeaning, it’s sad,” he told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
Thousands of demonstrators are planning to protest against the ban outside Downing Street and across the country, including in Edinburgh and Glasgow, later today.
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