49% of Britons believe Donald Trump state visit should go ahead, poll finds

1.7 million people have signed a petition against Trump's state visit (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

ALMOST half of Britons believe Donald Trump’s controversial state visit to the UK should go ahead, while just over a third think it should be cancelled, according to a poll.

More than 1.7 million people have signed a petition to Parliament calling for the visit to be scrapped, and large demonstrations have been held in London and other cities against the US president’s travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim states.

But the YouGov poll found a clear majority in favour of the visit planned for later this year, during which Mr Trump would be the guest of the Queen.

Prime Minister Theresa May extended the offer during her trip to the White House last week, seven days after Mr Trump’s inauguration.

Some 49% of those questioned in the survey for The Times said the trip should go ahead, against 36% who said it should be stopped.

Support for the visit came despite the fact that 50% believed the travel ban – which bars Syrian refugees from entering the US and puts a three-month block on any entrants from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya – was a bad idea, compared with 29% who said it was a good idea.

In a separate poll by the same company, 27% of Britons said they would be pleased or delighted if Mrs May imposed similar travel restrictions in the UK, while 49% said they would be disappointed or appalled.

As the row over the Trump visit raged in the UK, the president made one of the most important early decisions of his term in office, nominating Neil Gorsuch to fill a vacant judge’s seat on the US Supreme Court.