US presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has constantly been in the news for negative reasons, mostly due to his “hate speech” about Muslims. Many Britons have not taken his speech well, so much so that a petition consequently emerged to ban him from entering the UK.
Donald Trump had stated that all Muslims should be banned from entering the US. After the massacre that took place in California by a Muslim couple, he said, “We need a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States while we figure out what the hell is going on. We are out of control.”
Trump's controversial speech about Muslims caused immense outrage, which led to almost 360,000 signatures within 24 hours to ban him from the UK.
According to the Parliament's petitions website, the petition was garnering over 30,000 signatures per hour.
However, despite the major anger and nearly 400,000 people signing the petition, the Government has given the indication that the US presidential candidate will not be barred from entering Great Britain.
The Parliament's petitions website stated, “The signatories believe Donald J Trump should be banned from UK entry. The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK.
If the United Kingdom is to continue applying the 'unacceptable behaviour' criteria to those who wish to enter its borders, it must be fairly applied to the rich as well as poor, and the weak as well as powerful.”
The “hate speech” by Trump has received severe criticism by British politicians and the Met Police. The London Metropolitan police said that Trump “could not be more wrong”.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London said, “London has a proud history of tolerance and diversity and to suggest there are areas where police officers cannot go because of radicalisation is simply ridiculous.”
The Chancellor, George Osborne stated that Trump's ideologies is definitely not wanted in the UK. “The best way to defeat nonsense like this is to engage in robust and democratic debate, and to make it clear his views are not welcome.”
The Shadows Communities Secretary, Jon Trickett said that it was “entirely inappropriate to suggest every follower of one of the world's great religions has to be suspected of terrorism”. Trickett also added that it was “wrong, divisive, dangerous and may speed up the radicalisation of individuals”.
In the past, there have been many renown people who were barred from entering the UK, due to their criminal convictions or other accusations. Trump has received immense criticism from the UK for his views which led to a grand amount of people opposing him. Yet, it seems as though the petition has not been taken seriously or has been disregarded. No doubt, Trump's negative opinions about the Islamic faith can cause further divide in communities. And the revocation of the petition can further lead to major disagreements in the UK.
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Jason de Souza (South London): Trump is a disgusting, odious character and I can understand why people would clamour for him to be restricted from visiting the UK but the best way to deal with individuals such as him is to allow society to have as much access as they want in order that his vile opinions that be challenged, dismantled and discredited. Banning Trump actually works in his favour and makes him look like a victim of censorship and political repression, something that bolsters his kudos even further and undeservedly so.
Anonymous comment on Asian Voice website: I'm British and I voted to exclude Trump. His rabble rousing and hate propaganda is a clear threat to public order and national security.
Izabela Nair (North London): Although Donald Trump's comments on Muslims are outrageous, he shouldn't be banned from entering the UK. If we react to his comments and impose a ban on him, he will use that to his advantage in order to increase his popularity and spark more media frenzy. I think it is better if we ignore Mr Trump and let him believe in what he wants.
Swati Bhatt (North Carolina, USA): Personally, I never liked Donald Trump. And most likely, I will not even vote for him for the next election after hearing his disastrous speech against Muslims. It was pathetic of him to make such a huge statement to " Ban all Muslims from entering the US". The saddest thing is many Americans also feel the same. I understand that we have to protect our country, but banning Muslims is not the solution at all. I believe the United States is a strong nation and we stand together. By banning Muslims, we become a weak nation when we allow racism to divide the country. We have a huge Muslim population in the USA and such statement by Trump is not going to help him win the election at all. I am not a Muslim, but I will surely make sure that I do not vote for him after such a statement. The USA needs to find a better solution to stop terrorism in this country. Not all Muslims are terrorists so why blame all? I believe the UK has done the right thing by putting the petition to ban him from entering the UK. At least it's going to open some people's eyes who are blindly supporting him. What he really deserves is withdrawal from the 2016 elections because he does not deserve to be a president as he is so intolerant and partial.
