English targeted as French vote

Xavier Bertrand. Photo / AFP

Republican candidate takes aim across the Channel as he tries to halt the rise of Le Pen and the National Front

As the only man in a position to confound Marine Le Pen's bid to take control of a vast region of northern France today, Xavier Bertrand might have devoted his campaign's closing moments to landing a killer blow on the far-right National Front (FN) leader.

Instead, the centre-right candidate chose to lash out at an entirely different enemy, blaming England for many of France's problems.

Bertrand, a minister under Nicolas Sarkozy, is all that stands between Le Pen and the presidency of a region the size of Denmark, a win that could provide a launch pad for the FN leader's presidential ambitions in 2017.

He launched a furious broadside against British Prime Minister David Cameron and his countrymen.

"The main reason we have so many problems is because of the English. Either they change their rules, or we hand them back their border," the Republican candidate boomed.

Bertrand is fighting a knife-edge duel against Le Pen to govern France's Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardy region - an area with six million inhabitants and the country's highest unemployment rate. It includes Calais where thousands of migrants are camped in the squalid camp known as the "new jungle" in the dim hope of reaching Britain.

Following orders from party leadership, the Socialist candidate, Pierre de Saintignon, withdrew from today's run-off and called on his supporters to vote for Bertrand to block the FN.

Polls suggested that with Socialist support, Bertrand could beat Le Pen by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

Similar Socialist tactics could also see Marion Marechal-Le Pen, Marine's 26-year-old niece, lose in the southern Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region by an even higher margin - 54 per cent to 46 per cent, according to one poll.

But the poll's two-point margin for error suggests the race in Calais could go to the wire and Bertrand clearly thinks a spot of Brit-bashing might just swing things his way.

Le Pen argues that a regional win would take her closer to the French presidency, which she claims will give her the power to "control my borders, stop all migrant flows and send them back to their countries of origin".

In the meantime: "I will ruin the Government's life, you hear me?"

Bertrand insists she will get no such chance. "History will show that it was here and now, in our region, that her rise was halted," he said.

High stakes in regional election runoffs

Le Pen's prospects: The vote is seen as a gauge of political sentiment, especially Marine Le Pen's presidential chances. While National Front (FN) party lists dominate in six of France's 13 regions, several polls suggest it could lose that edge.

Migrants and Muslims: Le Pen has worked hard to soften the image of her party from the days it was run by her father, Jean-Marie, repeatedly convicted of racism and anti-Semitism. The party's main target is immigrants, and what Le Pen sees as a threat to France from Islam. The FN's long-standing calls to increase security and lock out immigrants dovetailed this year with two deadly attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and an unusually large influx of migrants to Europe.

European unity: Another nemesis of the FN is the European Union. The party wants to pull France out of the 28-nation EU and the shared euro currency and restore what it touts as the country's past greatness. That resonates with many voters frustrated that governments left and right have failed to bring down France's 10 per cent unemployment and at France's shrinking global economic clout.

Rising right, limping left: All but one of France's regions are run by the Socialists, who have seen their support shrivel since Francois Hollande won the presidency in 2012. The Socialists came third place in the nationwide vote in the first round, though polls suggest they could win back support in the runoff.

- Daily Telegraph, AP