Scotland prepares for Donald Trump visit

Theresa May has hailed the "uniquely close" relationship between the UK and America as she prepares for Donald Trump to visit.

The US President will fly into the UK on Thursday afternoon after attending the Nato summit in Brussels, before being greeted by David Mundell in Scotland.

Mundell said: "I am looking forward to greeting Mr Trump on behalf of the UK Government when he arrives in Scotland on Friday.

"The UK and the USA have longstanding and important cultural, trade and security bonds. The President's visit is an opportunity to strengthen vital links with one of our most important global allies.

"The President's Scots heritage ‎is well known, and I hope he enjoys his visit to Scotland."

Protests are expected across the UK, with the Scottish Government warning “we will not compromise our fundamental values of equality, diversity, and human rights and we expect these values to be made clear during the Presidential visit to the UK”.

Speaking ahead of the visit, the Prime Minister emphasised the “special relationship” between the UK and US.

She said: "When we leave the European Union we will begin to chart a new course for Britain in the world and our global alliances will be stronger than ever. 

"There is no stronger alliance than that of our special relationship with the US and there will be no alliance more important in the years ahead.

"The UK and the US already have a uniquely close partnership in the fight for democracy and global security and we share a global outlook across the vast majority of foreign policy issues.

"Our trade and investment relationship is unrivalled – we are the largest investors in each other’s economies and every day a million British people go to work for US companies in the UK and a million Americans go to work for UK companies in the US.

"This week we have an opportunity to deepen this unique trading relationship and begin discussions about how we will forge a strengthened, ambitious and future-proof trade partnership.

"As two nations – we are safer, more prosperous and more creative when we work together and I am looking forward to this week’s important discussions."

Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets of London for the President's visit, but he will avoid them by spending most of his time away from the capital.

President Trump and his wife Melania will attend a black tie dinner at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire - the birthplace of Winston Churchill - on Thursday night.

More than 100 guests will attend the dinner, including May, some of her ministers, and representatives from the financial services, food and drink, engineering, tech, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, defence and creative sectors.

The President and Prime Minister will visit a defence site "to witness a demonstration of the UK’s cutting edge military capabilities and integrated UK-US military training" on Friday morning, before the pair hold bilateral talks on foreign policy issues at Chequers.

Later that afternoon, President Trump and the First Lady will travel to Windsor Castle to meet the Queen, before flying to Scotland, where they are expected to stay until Sunday.

The Prime Minister was the first foreign leader to visit the White House after President Trump was sworn in last year, but they have had an uneasy relationship ever since.

Last November, May said the President had been "wrong" to retweet posts from far-right group Britain First - prompting the maverick Republican to say she should concentrate on tackling terrorism in the UK.

They were also at odds over America's decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.