Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for Donald Trump to be blocked from addressing the UK Parliament during his upcoming state visit.
The US president is expected to visit the UK in September, marking his second state visit. This would be the first time a president has been given such an honour. The invitation letter was handed over by Keir Starmer when he visited the White House in February.
However, a group of MPs and peers have already urged the Speakers of the House of Commons and House of Lords to reject any request for Trump to speak in Parliament during his visit.
Now, a petition on the Change.org website supporting this request has gained 43,000 signatures in just one week.
The petition was started by philanthropist and campaigner Corin Dalby, who stated that “President Trump has shown a consistent disregard for democratic values.”
Dalby added, “He has made troubling remarks about the UK and its institutions and has failed to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which all UK political parties have strongly opposed.”
Dalby believes that the UK Parliament should not offer a platform to a figure whose actions and words contradict the country’s values. He emphasized, “We are a proud democratic country, and we should be protective of that status.
Therefore, we should be extremely vigilant by not affording anyone, regardless of their position or status, who does not align themselves, either verbally or by actions, with our values with the privilege of addressing Parliament.”
The last US president to address Parliament was Barack Obama in 2011. In the past, former Commons Speaker John Bercow had blocked Trump from addressing Parliament during his previous presidency.
A spokesperson for the current Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, said that any request to address the Houses of Parliament would be considered in the usual way. While no request has been made yet, any decision would be made by both speakers.
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