UK petition to halt Trump visit nears 1 million

[LONDON] Nearly one million people have signed a petition urging Britain to withdraw an invitation for US President Donald Trump to visit London and dine with Queen Elizabeth.

The petition was started before British Prime Minister Theresa May extended the invitation for a "State" visit to Mr Trump last Friday, which means he would come by invitation of Queen Elizabeth II. Mr Trump is set to visit to Britain later in the year.

But the campaign to prevent the visit to Britain gathered momentum after Mr Trump put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily barred travelers from Syria and six other Muslim-majority countries.

So far, the petition has garnered 930,000 names.

"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," the petition said.

Once a petition passes 100,000 signatures, lawmakers must consider the petition for debate.

Lawmakers from the governing Conservative party and opposition Labour party have criticised Mr Trump's move, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn saying the state visit should be put on hold.

REUTERS