Corbyn and Blackford to skip Trump state dinner

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he will boycott a state banquet for US president Donald Trump when he makes his long-awaited visit to the UK in June.

The SNP’S Westminster leader Ian Blackford also announced he would not attend, saying it was “unacceptable” to hold a state visit for someone who promotes the “poisonous politics of division”.

Mr Corbyn condemned the US president’s “racist and misogynistic rhetoric”, adding that “maintaining an important relationship with the United States does not require the pomp and ceremony of a state visit”.

The pair join Liberal Democrat Sir Vince Cable in declining the invitation from Buckingham Palace to all party leaders.

Commons Speaker John Bercow, who opposes calls to have Mr Trump address parliament during the visit, is also understood to have declined to attend.