PARIS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A plan agreed by Britain's populist Reform UK party and France's National Rally, aimed at sending asylum seekers who arrive in Britain in small boats back to France, drew criticism from several French presidential election candidates on Saturday.
A memorandum of understanding signed on Friday by Reform leader Nigel Farage and National Rally (RN) chief Jordan Bardella is intended to go into effect if the two parties win power.
• Edouard Philippe, a former prime minister who is the conservative presidential candidate for the Horizons party in the 2027 election, said the pact was a "U-turn" for RN.
• "Seeing Jordan Bardella sign an agreement that provides for sending back to France migrants intercepted in the Channel, that one we didn't see coming," he said, asking whether the party's presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, was "on the same page" as Bardella.
• Former Prime Minister and leader of the center-right Renaissance party Gabriel Attal said the pact showed the "submission " of the National Rally to foreign interests.
• "We are reaching levels of unpreparedness and submission that are almost never seen in the recent history of the National Rally. This shows their foreign policy is one of great submission to other powers," Attal said.
• Far-left leader and presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon said on X that if the deal comes to fruition, "Our country would become the gatekeeper of the English. Not voting for Le Pen in 2027 becomes a matter of national dignity."
• Centre-left candidate Raphaël Glucksmann of the Place Publique party told BFM TV: "That's the hallmark of the National Rally: weakness when it comes to defending France's interests. Look at their votes in the European Parliament...We are the true patriots."
• Bardella dismissed the criticism. "So I welcome this agreement, and if tomorrow we are in power, and Nigel Farage is as well, we will do everything in our power to curb immigration both in France and in England," he said.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Valentina Za, Writing by Dominique Vidalon, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
