UK Home Secretary Refuses to Block Entry to France's Le Pen

UK Home Secretary Theresa May refused to deny entry to the country to French National Front party leader Marine Le Pen amid concerns of her negative influence on the Brexit debate, former UK State Secretary for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Friday, Vote Leave co-chairman Gisela Stuart addressed May in an official letter, urging the home secretary to refuse Le Pen admission into the country over her "divisive and inflammatory comments" on immigration.

"We've asked for her to be banned but the home secretary has refused to do it. She won't do it," Duncan Smith told the ITV broadcaster in an interview on Monday.

The politician clarified that May would not ban the French Eurosceptic because of EU rules prohibiting her to refuse entry to Le Pen.

According to Duncan Smith, the National Front party leader’s visit to the United Kingdom, scheduled sometime ahead of the UK referendum on EU membership, will only "toxify the debate," as she plans to influence France to hold the similar vote to leave the bloc.

UK citizens are set to vote on June 23 in a referendum on the country's EU membership, after Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the other 27 European Union member states reached a deal in February to grant the United Kingdom a special status within the bloc.