United Kingdom lawmakers slam Trump, but most oppose banning him

But most of the MPs who spoke were critical of the call in a petition signed by 575,000 people for Trump to be banned from the UK.

British Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq urged her colleagues on Monday to support a ban on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, arguing that he would put Britons at risk by importing “violent ideology”.

In comments to Parliament last month, Cameron said that Trump’s proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the United States for security was “divisive, stupid and wrong”, but that a British ban on Trump in response was unnecessary.

Any petition supported by 100,000 people – who must each provide and confirm an email address – is considered for parliamentary debate.

But opposition Labour lawmaker Paul Flynn, who will lead the debate, said that while Trump’s comments had been worse than those of many people who have previously been banned by Britain, barring Trump him would only give him more publicity. “Hate crime is being inflamed by the words that Donald Trump is using”. “It is for them to decide on Mr Trump’s views, not us”.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Gordon MP Alex Salmond said he wanted to ban all Donald Trumps from Scotland.

He responded to the British petition saying Britain was trying to disguise a “massive Muslim problem” and threatening to withhold planned investments in his two golf courses in Scotland in the hundreds of millions of pounds (dollars, euros). “If other people have been stopped from coming into the country the same rules need to apply to Donald Trump”.

Both Prime Minister David Cameron and Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn have rejected the idea of a ban. That’s because the home secretary is the only power with authority to bar someone from the country. She said was “a proud Muslim woman” and the Quran had taught her that “goodness is better than evil.

“I’m not sure Trump is going to be terribly anxious about this debate”, Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh said. But the debate underlines the extent to which Mr. Trump’s campaign has polarized opinion beyond the United States and provided some Europeans with a new American stage villain.

Flynn said the public profile of Wilders’ anti-Muslims views “was multiplied one hundredfold by the ban”, and he did not want the same thing to happen with Trump.

“I’ve heard of a number of cases where people have been excluded for incitement, for hatred”, said Conservative MP Paul Scully.

There are moments when Britain’s Parliament seems to be the nation’s debating chamber, when it’s possible to imagine the country listening as members discuss matters of peace and war.

“A line will go out “here’s these foreigners interfering, telling us what to do” and I think that’d be a grave error if we gave them that situation and allowed our deliberations today to be seen to be anti-American”.