PRESSURE ON MAY TO BAN TRUMP VISIT

Fury at US president

THERESA May is facing fresh calls to axe Donald Trump’s visit to Britain after he said anti-racism campaigners were as bad as neo-Nazis.

The Prime Minister is under pressure over a planned state welcome for the US leader, who again suggested both sides were to blame for violence in Virginia.

Mr Trump said: “I’m not putting anybody on a moral plane,” when asked to condemn white supremacists and Ku Klux Klan thugs for Saturday’s bloodshed.

He added: “You had a group on one side and a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs.

“There is another side, you can call them the left, that came violently attacking the other group. You had people that were very fine people on both sides.” Civil rights campaigner Heather Heyer, 32, died and 19 others were injured when a car allegedly driven by suspected Nazi James Fields ploughed into antiracism activists.

Mr Trump sparked fury by initially blaming the violence on “many sides” and taking two days to brand the racists “repugnant”.

But his latest comments at Trump Tower in New York have led to new calls for his UK invite to be withdrawn. Lib Dem leader Sir Vince

Cable said: ® “It would be completely wrong to have this man visit the UK.”

Mrs May made it clear she disagreed with Mr Trump but failed to directly criticise him. She said: “It is important for those in positions of responsibility to condemn far-right views.”

Violence erupted in Charlottesville during protests against plans to remove proslavery monuments.

Mr Trump said he was scrapping two business councils after eight bosses quit over his comments. Cartoon – Page 21

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