Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow said he is “strongly opposed” to allowing President Donald Trump to address Parliament. | Getty Trump not invited to address Parliament, British speaker says

British Prime Minister Theresa May may have signaled her willingness to work with President Donald Trump, but he is already facing opposition from Parliament.

John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons, told MPs Monday that he is “strongly opposed” to allowing Trump to address Parliament in Westminster Hall on a state visit.


He cited the American president’s recent executive order temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S., as well as general “opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary” in his reasoning.

Addressing Parliament, Bercow also said, is an “earned honor” and “not an automatic right,” and so the speaker does not plan to allow the United Kingdom to issue Trump an invitation to make a speech there in his name. The Independent reports that lawmakers applauded Bercow’s remarks.

May, the leader of the U.K.’s Conservative Party, is facing pressure from her constituents to speak out against Trump. She came to Washington for her first visit with the president about a week and a half ago and said he was invited to come to Britain this year.

The meeting took place shortly before Trump instituted the travel ban, which has prompted an international uproar in the days since.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party leader, has called on the U.K. to ban Trump from the country until the president’s own travel ban is gone.