Petition to stop Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK reaches 70,000 signatures

The UK people have made their feelings clear

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump a written invitation from the King on Thursday when the pair met in the Oval Office of the white House.

The letter invited Trump to undertake an "unprecedented" second state visit later this year.

As he handed it over the letter, Sir Keir said: "This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented. It is my pleasure to bring from His Majesty the King, a letter.

"He sends his best wishes and his regards, of course, but he also asked me to bear this letter and bring it to you. So can I present a letter from the King."

Trump accepted the invitation immediately but a petition has since been launched and garnered 70,000 signatures.

The petition called 'Cancel Trump's state visit' reads: "After Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s President Zelensky, he has shown that he is not our friend or an ally of democracy. The tactic of trying to flatter him into doing the right thing has failed. He is not someone who should be receiving honours of any kind. The offer of a state visit should be rescinded."

Campaigner Zoe Jardiniere took to TikTok to promote it in a video in which she said it was "so fun" watching the number of signatures "tick along".

She explained that the petition was established following the "absolute scenes" in which Trump treated Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Zoe added: "Trump essentially showed us that he's nothing more than Putin's mouthpiece when it comes to peace in Ukraine and defending the rights of the brave Ukrainian people who have been fighting for three years against awful aggression.

"But that's not all - we already hated Trump anyway in the UK. We hate Musk, we hate the oligarch bros - we don't want any of that ruining our democratic systems here in the UK and across Europe."

She urged other TikTok users to sign the petition and people flooded the comments to pledge their support.