More than 70 MPs have backed a demand for Donald Trump to be banned from making a speech in Parliament on his controversial state visit.

A motion has been laid in the Commons insisting the President must not be allowed to speak in the historic Westminster Hall or any other room in the Palace.

The demand emerged as MPs agreed to hold a debate on a petition signed by 1.7million people insisting the state visit be cancelled.

No 10 today insisted the invite to Mr Trump stood despite claims it had put the Queen in a 'difficult position' because of the controversy surrounding it.

The Queen was put in a 'very difficult' position by the 'premature' decision to invite Trump for a state visit, according to Lord Ricketts, who was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office from 2006-10

More than 1million people have signed a petition demanding President Trump's state visit to the UK is cancelled. Pictured, President Trump with an executive order in the Oval Office

Former Labour leader Harriet Harman today joined condemnation of the state visit, pencilled in for later this year, warning Theresa May to 'take back control' of the situation and cancel it.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty tabled the 'early day motion' on the visit. It reads: 'This House deplores recent actions taken by US President Donald J Trump, including his Executive Order on Immigration and Refugees, and notably his comments on torture and women

'Notes the historical significance and honour that comes with an invitation to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster

'And calls on the Speaker, Lord Speaker, Black Rod and Serjeant at Arms to withhold permission from the Government for an address to be made in Westminster Hall, or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster, by President Trump.'

The motion - which has no force or effect but has potential to be politically embarrassing - has been signed by 73 MPs, mostly from Labour and the SNP.

The Commons petitions committee today confirmed it would schedule a debate on two petitions relating to the state visit.

A protest against the trip has now been signed by 1.7milllion people. A rival petition, supporting the state visit, has been signed by 123,000 people.

Ms Harman today used a lunch with Westminster journalist to blast Mr Trump and warn Mrs May to withdraw her invitation.

She said the US election had led to a period of 'post-protocol politics' where it was right to take the almost unprecedented step of cancelling a state visit.

The intervention came hours after a former Foreign Office chief has hit out at the PM's 'ill judged' move saying it has exposed the monarch to a furious row about the US president's travel ban on nationals from seven mainly-Muslim countries.

Moe than 70 MPs have signed a Commons motion, pictured, condemning Mr Trump and demanding he be stopped from making a speech in the Palace of Westminster on a state visit

Barack Obama received the rare honour of making a speech to MPs and peers in the historic Westminster Hall in 2011, pictured. Other US presidents, including Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, have delivered speeches in Parliament but in less high profile rooms

Lord Ricketts, the top mandarin at the department until 2010, said he could not see why Mr Trump was 'specially deserving' of an honour which his predecessors had to wait years for.

He suggested the full ceremonial visit should be delayed and a lower-key political trip happen instead.

The intervention comes amid signs that Buckingham Palace is uncomfortable with Downing Street's handling of the situation. Aides are said to have made clear that the Queen was only acting on the recommendation of the PM.

Fears the monarch could be dragged into the furore grew last night as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in London and other major UK cities to express their anger over Mr Trump's executive order.

Senior Tories and Labour MPs have joined forces to urge Mrs May to withdraw the invite - extended when she visited Washington last week for talks with the US commander-in-chief.

But a defiant Mrs May used a press conference in Dublin last night to insist the visit will go ahead this year.

'The United States is a close ally of the United Kingdom. We work together across many areas of mutual interest and we have that special relationship between us,' she said.

'I have issued that invitation for a state visit for President Trump to the United Kingdom and that invitation stands.'

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson made clear that the government viewed the ban as 'divisive, discriminatory and wrong' last night.

Lord Ricketts, who was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office from 2006-10, said the offer so early in Mr Trump's presidency was 'premature'

The petition reached was closing fast on 1.7million signatures at 4pm today less than two days after it was set up

Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured in the Commons today, has said the US and UK remain close allies and that President Trump's state visit invitation 'stands'

He said he had received assurances from the US authorities that no Britons, even those with joint nationality, would be affected by the restrictions.

But Mr Johnson also dismissed calls for the state visit to be cancelled, saying there was 'absolutely no reason' to do so.

RIVAL PETITION SAYS TRUMP STATE VISIT SHOULD BE WELCOME A petition hailing Donald Trump's state visit to the UK has attracted more than 100,000 signatures. The message has been posted on the official site to rival one which calls for the visit to be ditched. The number of signatories is dwarfed by the 1.7million protesters against the US president coming - but has been rising quickly. Now it has crested the 100,000 level MPs will be obliged to consider debating it, potentially alongside the other petition. The text states: 'Donald Trump should be invited to make an official State Visit because he is the leader of a free world and UK is a country that supports free speech and does not believe that people that oppose our point of view should be gagged.' Advertisement

Lord Ricketts, who was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office from 2006-10 before becoming David Cameron's national security adviser, said the offer so early in Mr Trump's presidency was 'premature'.

In a letter to The Times, he said it was unprecedented for a US president to be given a state visit in their first year in the White House and questioned whether Mr Trump was 'specially deserving of this exceptional honour'.

'It would have been far wiser to wait to see what sort of president he would turn out to be before advising the Queen to invite him. Now the Queen is put in a very difficult position.'

Lord Ricketts called for the state visit to be delayed so a scaled-down political trip by Mr Trump could take place first.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Perhaps the timing of a state visit can be put back a bit ...

'In the meantime he should pay an early official visit, mainly centred on political talks with the Prime Minister.

'Once this official invitation has been issued, then, of course, there should be a state visit.

'But I think if you did it two or three years into the Trump presidency, the controversial early policy announcements would have been out of the way, things would have settled down.'

However, Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said the full state visit should go ahead within the next six months when issues around the travel ban have been 'resolved one way or another'.

He told the BBC: 'The Queen is a consummate, professional head of state, her staff will be professional with all foreign leaders, heads of state, that come to visit our country...

Key Brexiteers including Boris Johnson and Liam Fox (pictured left and right respectively arriving for Cabinet today) have warned Labour and the SNP not to try to block the EU Bill

Theresa May, pictured left leaving Downing Street today, is under growing pressure to postpone Donald Trump's state visit to the UK. Baroness Warsi, right, the ex-Tory Cabinet minister, said Britain must not honour the US President by rolling out the red carpet for him

'I would suspect that any date for his visit will be long after any travel ban has expired and other arrangement will be in place.'

Tory peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to attend Cabinet, became the latest high profile politicians to call for the state visit to be postponed until President Trump has lifted his controversial travel ban.

And MPs must now debate calls for President Trump's state visit to be cancelled after the online petition easily passed the 100,000 target within hours of being set up.

This afternoon it had reached just under 1.7million signatures.

EX-FOREIGN OFFICE CHIEF'S SCATHING LETTER ABOUT VISIT 'The Queen acts on the government's advice, and the government protects the Queen from being drawn into political controversy. That convention has worked very well through the 65 years of Her Majesty's reign. But it is being put under strain because of the ill-judged advice to the Queen to rush out an invitation to President Trump for an early state visit, to suit the timing of the prime minister's visit to Washington. There is no precedent for a US president paying a state visit to this country in their first year. Most have had to wait till their third. Is Trump specially deserving of this exceptional honour? It would have been far wiser to wait to see what sort of president he would turn out to be before advising the Queen to invite him. Now the Queen is put in a very difficult position. The government needs to move fast to protect Her Majesty from the growing controversy, as shown by the overwhelming response to the petition. I suggest that No10 makes clear to the White House that the state visit will take place later in the presidency, and that the president is invited here this year for an official visit, ie, political talks with the prime minister and a courtesy call on the Queen. Not an easy manoeuvre, but the consequence of having rushed to a premature invitation for political effect. Advertisement

But a Downing Street source dismissed the petition, which claims his visit would embarrass the Queen, as 'a populist gesture'.

And they blasted the suggestion that the President's state visit could be scrapped, saying it would 'undo everything' that Mrs May achieved during her visit to the White House on Friday.

In angry exchanges in the Commons yesterday MPs heaped pressure on ministers to cancel President Trump's state visit.

Veteran socialist Dennis Skinner said Britain must not walk 'hand-in-hand with another fascist – Trump,' while his Labour colleague David Winnick branded President Trump a 'bigoted man' who 'under no circumstances should address Parliament' during his state visit.

But Mr Johnson rejected calls to cancel the visit, telling MPs: 'We should bear in mind that he is the elected head of state of our closest and most important ally and there is absolutely no reason why he should not be accorded a state visit and every reason why he should.'

The online petition, backed by Mr Corbyn and Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, says the US President should no longer be invited to avoid embarrassing the Queen.

The motion states: 'Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

'Donald Trump's well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales.

'Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official State Visit.'

Mr Corbyn said he is 'not happy with him coming here until that ban is lifted,' while Mr Farron said his visit would be 'placing the Queen in an impossible position of welcoming a man who is banning British citizens purely on grounds of their faith'.