British Parliament to debate Trump's visit after 1.7m sign petition

Britain's Parliament on Tuesday said it would debate whether to revoke US President Donald Trump's invitation to a State visit after a petition calling for it to be canceled garnered almost 1.7 million signatures.

The debate was scheduled to take place on February 20, after the petition, created by Briton Graham Guest, received almost seventeen times the number of signatures it needed to qualify as a topic for parliamentary consideration, Efe news reported.

"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," said the petition statement, referring to Elizabeth II.

The petition was launched in response to Trump's controversial executive order to withhold US visas from the citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations.

Another petition in favour of Trump's State visit also surpassed 100,000 signatories.

British Prime Minister Theresa May invited the newly-appointed US president to visit Britain following a visit to the White House.

She was the first foreign leader to visit Trump since he took office on January 20.

--IANS

vgu/