Yahoo News Marine Le Pen says she has been snubbed by Theresa May because her 'judgement is not very good'
French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has complained she has been snubbed by Theresa May, because her “judgement is not very good” after her similar treatment towards Donald Trump.
Ms Le Pen, the current frontrunner in the French election, also said after leaving the European Union that Britain and France could agree their own trade deal.
The British Prime Minister has attracted criticism because she met with Ms Le Pen’s rival Emmanuel Macron at the end of last month but failed to meet with Ms Le Pen because of a policy of not engaging with the Front National.
Mrs May was criticised for failing to engage with Mr Trump before he won the US presidential election in November.
In an interview for LBC, which has been shared with The Telegraph ahead of its broadcast today [weds], Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, asked Ms Le Pen if she felt she had been “snubbed” by Mrs May.
Ms Le Pen replied: “It seems to be the case. I find it difficult to understand the consistency of the ideas and convictions in this approach of hers.”
Ms Le Pen said Mr Macron was “a key sales person of globalisation – he is for everything, deregulation of everything, opening up the borders, mass immigration”.
These policies were “the opposite of what Brexit stands for and the choice made by the British people.
“So I do not understand this inconsistency this contradiction between what Theresa May stands for because she has decided to be the woman who will implement Brexit and her meeting with Emmanuel Macron.”
Ms Le Pen added that while she had not asked to meet with Mrs May “if I am elected I will have to meet her”.
Mr Farage likened the apparent snub to Mrs May’s failure to engage positively with Donald Trump before he became US President. Ms Le Pen replied: “Well, yes, her judgement is not very good is it?”
Ms Le Pen, who is currently polling to reach the final round of France's upcoming presidential election, has pledged to hold a referendum on France's EU membership and take France out of the euro to return to a new French franc.
If Ms Le Pen is elected French president this year she said she will immediately close France’s borders to new migrants by suspending the Schengen borderless regime.
She said that outside of the EU “I see no reason why france and Britain should not have excellent relations – we are old allies”.
Ms Le Pen added: “What I cannot stand in the behaviour of the EU with regard to Great Britain is blackmail, constant threat.
“I believe that between two nations like ours that really go back, they would have excellent relations as well as trade relations of great quality as in the past.”
Ms Le Pen also sought to reassure the 250,000 Britons in France, mostly retired, who are living in Normandy, Brittany and other parts of France.
She said: “This is another strategy of fear. After Brexit, nothing will happen to French citizens living in Great Britain and nothing will happen to British citizens living in homes in France.
“When people live on our territory and are not criminals, they do not dispute our laws or our ways of living, our customs, our values.
“I see no reason why we should not continue to welcome them in the French style.”
Ms Le Pen also said that if she became president she would aim to reach out to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
She said: “Russia is not a threat to France – why should I be hostile to Russia.” She added that Russia could become “a trade partner on a par with the US”.
The full interview will be broadcast in The Nigel Farage Show on Wednesday March 14 2017 from 7pm on LBC or you can listen online at LBC.co.uk
