Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on the petition against a State Visit by Donald Trump
(photo Wiki Commons)
It is now the second biggest collection of names on a parliamentary petition and is guaranteed a debate in the House of Commons. Over a million people have now signed the petition demanding that the invitation for US President, Donald Trump, to make a State Visit to the UK be withdrawn. The reason for cancelling the State Visit - to spare the Queen embarrassment.
The petition as of 12.15pm on Monday 30th January
The petition, started immediately after the invitation was extended to President Trump by Prime Minister Theresa May during their meeting on Friday, has attracted signatures from across the country with signatures particularly high in parts of London and on the south coast, around Brighton. It says ''Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US government but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to the Queen''.
A petition must get at least 100,000 signatures to be guaranteed a debate in the House of Commons. This petition is now the second most signed since the system was brought in - last summer, a call for a new referendum on leaving the EU attracted over 4 million signatures. But this isn't the first time that Donald Trump has found himself attracting huge attention on the site - in December 2015, a petition calling for him to be banned from entering the UK was signed by 586,000 people.
This latest petition saw a huge surge in support following President Trump's executive order bringing in a clampdown on immigration to the US - measures include halting the refugee programme for 120 days and stopping people from seven countries where the majority of the population are Muslims. It also placed an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees entering America.
Protests against the planned State Visit are due to take place in cities and towns around the UK this afternoon. Downing Street has said that no changes have been made to plans and Buckingham Palace has declined to comment on the row.
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