The British Parliament will debate whether to ban GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump from the country.
The House of Commons debate will take place on January 18 in
response to a petition from the public,
USA Today reports.
Petitions that get 100,000 signatures are considered for debate. The ban Trump petition has garnered 500,000 names, while a separate petition for Trump to be allowed into the United Kingdom has gotten 40,000 signatures.
"We had two petitions, one which said ban Trump from the country and another which said let him in," Parliament member Steve Double
told BuzzFeed News.
"It's a very interesting point — how do we, as an open democracy, deal with people who say things we perhaps don't agree with," Double said. "My personal view is that we shouldn't ban people like Donald Trump but we should have the confidence to stand up for what we believe in, have an open debate and defeat the views in open debate."
The petition stems from Trump's call for a temporary ban on all Muslim entry into the United States until officials are able to ensure terrorists are not getting in.
Debates in Westminster Hall are mostly symbolic and unlikely to change public policy, BuzzFeed notes, though the government has said that Home Secretary Theresa May has the power to block non-European Economic Area nationals if being there is
considered "non-conducive to the public good."
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