DONALD Trump looks set to make a scaled-down visit to Britain early next year amid fears over mass protests.

Such a move would come in the wake of controversy generated by Theresa May's decision to invite the US President to make a full state visit, which would normally last four days.

But a whistle-stop visit is not being seen as a replacement for a full state visit.

Under plans being discussed by diplomats, Mr Trump would make a stripped-down trip that would not involve staying with the Queen.

Nor would the "working visit" would feature all the pomp of a state visit and is likely to be part of an international tour rather than a trip focused solely on the UK, according to the London Evening Standard.

Threats of mass protests and boycotts greeted news that Mrs May had extended the honour of a state visit to Mr Trump when she visited him in the White House in his first week in office. The threat of street demonstrations had led to claims the President wanted to put off his state visit.

Commons Speaker John Bercow later said Mr Trump should not be allowed to address the House of Commons during any visit.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "Our position on the state visit has not changed; an offer has been extended and President Trump has accepted. Exact dates for him to visit have not yet been arranged."

Following PMQs, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said it remained the Government's intention that Mr Trump would have a state visit.

"We have extended an invitation that has been accepted. In terms of dates, they are still being finalised," he added.

At Holyrood, MSP Richard Leonard, a candidate for the Scottish Labour leadership, said: “Under my leadership, Scottish Labour - working with trade unions and other campaigning organisations - would be at forefront of opposing a state visit by Donald Trump to Scotland – and we would ensure huge opposition and protests to it.”

Last month during the Liberal Democrats’ conference, the party’s deputy leader Jo Swinson said: "Trump is a bully, a misogynist and a racist. He boasts about sexually assaulting women. He cruelly mocked a reporter for his disability. He has rolled back trans rights…Yet the Conservative Government thinks it is right to offer Trump the honour of a state visit to the UK. They are wrong. It is a sign of our weakness in a Brexit world.”

Whitehall insiders have already made clear that a trip by the US President to his “beloved Scotland” during a state visit is a "no-brainer". However, it is unlikely that Mr Trump would venture north of the border, where his business owns golf courses, if he were to come to the UK on a simple working visit.