Theresa May defiant over Trump state visit despite outcry in UK

Prime Minister Theresa May says her invitation to Donald Trump to visit the UK on a state visit remains open, despite the public outcry over his immigration policies.

She said: "The United States is a close ally of the United Kingdom. We work together across many areas of mutual interest and we have that special relationship between us.

"I have issued that invitation for a state visit for President Trump to the United Kingdom and that invitation stands."

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Thousands of protesters took to the streets across the UK last night to demonstrate against the US President's controversial travel ban. Crowds shouting: "Shame on May" gathered at Downing Street, while more than 1.6 million people have signed a petition to prevent the state visit.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Trump "should not be welcomed to Britain while he abuses our shared values with his shameful Muslim ban and attacks on refugees' and women's rights".

Downing Street issued a statement saying May "does not agree" with the ban, but that immigration issues for the US are a matter for the US government to address.

Lord Ricketts, former head of the Foreign Office, said the invite was "premature" and put the Queen in a "very difficult position". In a letter to The Times, he questioned whether Trump was "specially deserving of this exceptional honour".

Tom Peck at The Independent says the Prime Minister will find herself "as hated as Trump" if she sacrifices the UK's ethics for trade deals.

"She would not be the first British prime minister of recent times to decide that there is no price too high for the preservation of the transatlantic relationship," he says. "If Theresa May imagines her country's reputation can be restored via the friendly offices of an international joke, her own personal credibility will not last much longer."