UPDATE: More than one million people sign petition calling for Donald Trump’s state visit to be cancelled.
A petition calling for Donald Trump to be banned from receiving an official UK state visit “because it would cause embarrassment” to the Queen has reached more than 970,000 signatures.
Tens of thousands of people have added their names to the petition in just a matter of hours following Trump’s executive order banning Muslim refugees from entering the US.
When a petition reaches more than 100,000 signatures, Parliament considers it for debate.
A statement on the government petition reads: “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 Her Majesty the Queen.”
It continues: “Donald Trump’s well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales.
“Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official State Visit.”
On Sunday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn agreed that the US President’s state visit to the UK should be scrapped until he ends his controversial travel ban on refugees.
Last week, Theresa May announced that Trump would be afforded a full state visit – including an audience with the Queen and addressing both Houses of Parliament – later this year.
Yet since May’s announcement, the Republican president has signed an executive order banning all refugees from Syrian and six other Muslim-majority countries from entering the US.
Speaking on ITV’s Peston On Sunday show this morning, Corbyn predicted the state visit might not go ahead at all, and said: “I suspect this visit might find its way into the long grass.”
He added: “Is it really right to endorse somebody who has used this awful misogynist 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.”
In a statement after the show, Corbyn said: “Donald Trump should not be welcomed to Britain while he abuses our shared values with his shameful Muslim ban and attacks on refugees’ and women’s rights.
“Theresa May would be failing the British people if she does not postpone the state visit and condemn Trump’s actions in the clearest terms. That’s what Britain expects and deserves.”
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron also called for the planned visit to be canned, and said: “Any visit by President Trump to Britain should be on hold until his disgraceful ban comes to an end.
“Otherwise 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.”
Protesters gathered at airports across the US on Saturday to demonstrate against Trump’s executive order.
A five-year-old child was reportedly detained for several hours after arriving in the US from Iran with family members.
His distraught mother was filmed hugging and kissing him after he was finally released by the authorities.