British Members of Parliament will on January 18 debate whether to allow American billionaire and presidential contender Donald Trump entry in the United Kingdom.
More than 500,000 people have signed a petition demanding the billionaire is barred from Britain after he claimed police were scared to enter areas of London because of radical Islam.
The defiant US business mogul has said that the UK would ‘send a terrible message to the world that it opposes free speech’ if he is barred by the government, amid accusations of ‘holding the UK to ransom’ after he warned he will not put any more money into his two Scots golf course.
But the controversial billionaire has threatened to withdraw £700million of investment in Scotland if he is banned from Britain over comments he made about Muslims.
The Trump Organisation issued the warning after it was revealed MPs will debate whether or not the tycoon should be allowed back into Britain on January 18 at Westminster Hall.
Tulip Siddiq, a Muslim Labour MP, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘The United Kingdom should not be held to ransom by corrosive billionaire politicians. In our country, money doesn’t buy the right to sew discord and hatred in our communities.
‘Donald Trump’s threats about withholding investment from the UK is another desperate attempt to get in the headlines and anyone seeing his comments should reject his bigotry.’
Mr Trump owns two golf courses in Scotland: Trump International Golf Links, in Aberdeenshire, and the iconic Turnberry course in Ayrshire.
George Sorial, executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation, warned any action to restrict Mr Trump’s travel would force the company to ‘immediately end’ all current and future investment in the country.4
He said: ‘The Trump Organization has plans to invest more than 200 million pounds into the development of the iconic Trump Turnberry resort.
‘Our work there has been widely supported by the local community and created hundreds of jobs for the region.
‘Over the coming years, we intend to further develop Trump Turnberry and invest millions more at the site, creating sustained economic growth for South Ayrshire and Scotland.
‘Additionally, we have plans to invest £500million pounds towards further development at the 1,400 acre Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeen.
Donald Trump’s mother was Scottish and the billionaire’s passion for golf has seen him buy its jewel Turnberry and build a new links course near Aberdeen, costing him hundreds of millions.
But since he made comments about Muslims in December he has suffered blow after blow.
His dreams of hosting The Open Championship at his Scottish golf course look to have been dashed because of his plan to ban Muslims from entering the US.
The new R&A chief executive Martin Slumber was expected to endorse Turnberry as a venue for the 2020 Open Championship, after Mr Trump bought the course in April 2014, giving it a £200million makeover.
He has also been stripped of his status as a business ambassador for Scotland.
Last month Mr Trump blasted the Scottish Government as ‘small-minded and parochial’ and labelled Alex Salmond a ‘has been’ after he lost a legal battle against an offshore windfam being built in the view from his Scottish golf resort in Aberdeenshire, where he had planned to spend £500million.
The controversial property tycoon had wanted to block plans for an 11-turbine scheme in the bay off the coast near the Trump International Golf Links at the Menie Estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. But his legal challenge failed.
‘Any action to restrict travel would force The Trump Organization to immediately end these and all future investments we are currently contemplating in the United Kingdom.
‘Westminster would send a terrible message to the World that the United Kingdom opposes free speech and has no interest in attracting inward investment.’
Mr Sorial added that banning Mr Trump from UK soil would ‘also alienate the many millions of United States citizens who wholeheartedly support Mr Trump and have made him the forerunner by far in the 2016 Presidential Election.’
In December last year, presidential hopeful Mr Trump called for a ‘total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States’ following terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, in California.
He was then accused of making a ‘hate speech’ about Britain and a petition demanding he is barred from the UK became the most popular ever.
The tycoon is defiant and has since accused Britons of ‘trying hard to disguise their massive Muslim problem’ and said his critics are just ‘pandering to political correctness’.
In a series of outbursts last month, the billionaire tycoon said ‘UK politicians should be thanking me’ for his claim that some of the country’s Muslim communities are no-go areas because of extremism.
He also attacked ‘out of touch’ MPs who abused him over his demand for an end to Muslim immigration to America, tweeting: ‘Everybody is wise to what is happening, very sad! Be honest!’
And he hit back at the hundreds of thousands signing the official petition demanding Mr Trump – the frontrunner to be the Republican Presidential candidate – be banned from Britain, writing on Twitter: ‘They don’t know what they’re getting into’.
During a CNN interview as he faced worldwide condemnation for his comments he said: ‘I am the least racist person you have ever met.’
His words led to him being stripped of his status as a business ambassador for Scotland and also lost his honorary degree from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
Suzanne Kelly, the woman who started the petition to have him barred from the UK, said: ‘When the signatures quickly topped the 100,000 mark and a parliamentary debate was triggered, I still did not actually believe that this billionaire would be the subject of a parliamentary debate.
‘However the debate goes, this exercise has brought many people together to speak out against hate speech and prejudice.
‘That is my reward, and one I’m very happy and moved by.’
The debate on January 18 will be chaired by Labour MP Paul Flynn.
Labour MP Helen Jones, chair of the House of Commons Petitions Select Committee, said: ‘By scheduling a debate on these petitions, the Committee is not expressing a view on whether or not the Government should exclude Donald Trump from the UK.
‘As with any decision to schedule a petition for debate, it simply means that the Committee has decided that the subject should be debated. A debate will allow a range of views to be expressed.’
