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France's Front National leader 'opens arms' to UKIP party

But British anti-European Union party says it is not interested in a deal because of 'prejudice and anti-Semitism in particular' in the FN's 'DNA'.

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The leader of the French far right-wing Front National (FN) party has said that she would welcome collaboration with UKIP with "open arms".

Marine Le Pen told BBC Newsnight ideas UKIP leader Nigel Farage defends are "very similar" to those of her party, reports the BBC.

In a statement, UKIP said it was "not interested in any deal" with Ms Le Pen or her party because of "prejudice and anti-Semitism in particular" in the FN.

UKIP this week appeared to align itself with a French Eurosceptic party.

Speaking on Newsnight, Ms Le Pen insisted that Front National's campaign against the European Union was in line with UKIP's Eurosceptic policies.

She said her "arms will be open" to Mr Farage if he were willing to "join up in a common plan to fight the European Union."

"As long as it serves the interests of the European people" she added.

Ms Le Pen said that although there are "strategic or tactical differences" between the two parties, there were "obvious similarities" in polices such as "refusal of massive immigration" and "peoples' freedom to decide for themselves".

"People have progressively realised the EU has brought them nothing but unhappiness, devastation, identity loss, and unprotected frontiers," she said.

Read more of this report from the BBC.