British lawmakers debate a ban on Donald Trump entering the country

MPs will debate the petition, and a counter-petition criticising a ban signed by more than 42,000 people for three hours on Monday, starting at 16.30 GMT.

It received more than 576,000 signatures – more than five times the number required for MPs to consider sending the matter for debate in parliament.

Only Minister of the Interior Theresa May can issue an order banning entry into Britain and Prime Minister David Cameron has said while Trump’s comments were “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”, he does not back the idea of barring him.

Sarah Malone, executive vice president of Scotland-based Trump International Golf Links labeled the debate “ridiculous” and “absurd”, saying the British Parliament was setting a “dangerous precedent” and “sending a bad message to the world”.

Meanwhile, Mr. Cameron announced on Monday that Muslim women who fail to learn English to a high enough standard could face deportation from Britain.

“Donald Trump is no more than a demagogue”.

Shadow Home Office minister Sir Keir Starmer criticised Mr Trump’s “absolutely repugnant” comments although said they did not merit a ban “at this stage on the basis of what’s been said so far”.

Adam Holloway said the debate on whether to ban the Republican presidential candidate from British shores “makes Britain look totalitarian”.

Labour MP Paul Flynn opened the debate by revealing record numbers support the motion but he did not support a ban.

Still, British politicians made it clear they didn’t condone Trump’s controversial views, especially his promise to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. or his suggestion that the majority of Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers. “Hate crime is being inflamed by the words that Donald Trump is using”.

Corri Wilson, another SNP member said on Twitter that Trump’s comments were “deplorable”, but the Scottish communities where Trump had invested could not afford to lose the money.

Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, also joined the calls for him to be banned, saying people had felt “we need to stop a poisonous, corrosive man from entering the country”.

Paul Scully, a member of the Conservative Party, noted that people have been barred from the country for hate speech and inciting violence, “but not for stupidity”.

A Birmingham Mail poll shortly after showed two thirds of Brummies wanted Mr Trump banned from the country. “She will, I’m sure, be listening”, he said, optimistically.

But Trump hasn’t taken the issue lightly, threatening to halt investment plans totaling more than $1 billion in Scotland if he gets turned away. Others against it said banning him from the United Kingdom would be counter-risk making him a martyr and would give him an edge in American polls.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has responded to the controversy around Trump by inviting him to tour a north London mosque.