Greens call on First Minister to boycott Trump banquet
The Scottish Greens have urged the First Minister to boycott a state banquet being held at Windsor Castle tonight in Donald Trump’s honour, following the confirmation that Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O'Neill will not attend.
Scottish Green Co-leader Ross Greer said:
“Donald Trump is one of the most dishonest, disgraced and dishonourable people in the world. He has bragged about abusing women, stirred up racist hatred and betrayed our Ukrainian allies. He is the last person on Earth who deserves a banquet in their honour.
“The photos taken at this dinner will tell the story of a British political class grovelling to a thin skinned fascist, a man inflicting state violence against migrant families in the US and arming Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
“The First Minister doesn’t support any of these policies. He has also spoken powerfully about the need for men to stand up against other men who commit the kind of acts against women that Trump has personally bragged about. Even at this late hour I urge him to think about the message his attendance would send and to follow the example set by Michelle O’Neill by boycotting this shameful dinner.
“John Swinney certainly would not go to dinner with Vladimir Putin or Benjamin Netanyahu, and there is no moral distinction between those men and Trump.
“You don’t defeat the far right by dining with them in a grand palace. You do it by taking them on, exposing their lies and making our economy far less reliant on theirs. The best thing we can do to support Scottish businesses currently exporting to the US is a relentless focus on diversifying into less risky markets.
“There is no way that we can reliably protect our access to the US economy when it is controlled by an erratic fascist whose position on tariffs is based on what he heard on Fox News that morning.”