This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Theresa May has been urged to reconsider her offer of a state visit for Donald Trump after his failure to immediately condemn the white supremacist groups that targeted Charlottesville in Virginia at the weekend.

No date has been set for the US president’s visit amid concern in the White House about the possibility of protests, but he remains on the list of officially invited guests.

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, called on the government to rethink the invitation after an outcry over Trump’s response to the violent clashes in Charlottesville, where a civil rights campaigner was killed on Saturday after being deliberately run over by a car.

Trump initially condemned violence on “many sides” but issued no specific criticism of the race hatred displayed by the neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups who organised a march in the city.

A White House statement on Sunday claimed Trump included white supremacists within his comments, saying: “The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred and of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.”

On Monday, two days after the Charlottesville attack and protests, Trump made a belated statement, saying “racism is evil” and condemning the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and white supremacists as “criminals and thugs”.

His initial response was criticised internationally, including by Cable.

Vince Cable (@vincecable) After. @realDonaldTrump whitewash of murder and hatred by #WhiteSupremacists why is he still on list of invited official guests to UK?

The invitation to Trump was extended by the government on behalf of the Queen earlier this year after his name was approved by the royal visits committee of the Foreign Office, which includes a representative from No 10.

It was initially supposed to take place towards the end of the summer but the prospect of an imminent trip to London has receded amid the threat of huge protests against his presidency.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, also joined the criticism of Trump’s initial response to Charlottesville, saying it was “not enough”.

“What happened in Charlottesville was the KKK and its supporters, white supremacists, arrived in Charlottesville in order to cause trouble,” he said. “Surely every president of every country in the world ... should be able to condemn that.”

Downing Street said “what the president says is a matter for him but what we are very clear that from very early on after this tragedy is that we condemn racism, hatred and violence”.

“The PM has been very clear that we condemn racism and we condemn the far right,” May’s official spokesman said.