MPs call for Trump to be blocked from addressing parliament during UK visit

MPs and peers are campaigning to block Donald Trump from addressing parliament during his state visit to the UK, warning the US president “does not respect democracy”.

- MILLIE COOKE

The US president has suggested Buckingham Palace is “setting a date for September” for him to stay in Britain. However, some parliamentarians have voiced concerns that it would be “inappropriate” for him to speak in the Palace of Westminster as his predecessors Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton did.

First reported in The Times, Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, who was a minister in Sir Tony Blair’s government, wrote to Lord Speaker, Lord McFall of Alcluith, warning it would be “inappropriate” for the US president to address both houses of Parliament “because of his attitude towards and comments about the UK, parliamentary democracy, the Nato Alliance and Ukraine”.

“I have written to the Lord Speaker urging him not to agree that Trump should address parliament as previous presidents have done, because he does not respect democracy, the courts or the rule of law and he does not condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as all parties at Westminster do,” Lord Foulkes told The Independent.