Latest Update on The Macron and Le Pen Clash Ahead of Sunday Polls in France

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen have clashed over the far-right leader’s links with Russia in a live television debate ahead of the upcoming election.

The incumbent president said Ms Le Pen was “dependent on Putin” and called Russia her “banker” as he launched into fierce criticism over a loan taken from a Russian bank in 2014. The National Rally leader denied her independence was compromised by this.

The two candidates also clashed over energy - in particular renewables - and Muslim headscarves in public spaces, with the Mr Macron saying Ms Le Pen’s plans to ban them would start a “civil war”.

Mr Macron, a pro-European centrist, has been enjoying a growing and significant lead over Ms Le Pen, an anti-immigration nationalist, according to polls. But the result is expected to be closer than five years ago.

Bookmakers said more than a quater of French voters were waiting for the debate to decide how - or whether - to vote in the final round of the presidential election on Sunday.

KeyNotes From the Debate;

• Mr Macron dissected each of his opponent’s economic proposals to show the difficulties Ms Le Pen would have in implementing and financing her manifesto.
• A heated exchanges took place over Ms Le Pen’s links to Russia. Mr Macron said she “depends” on Vladimir Putin, but Ms Le Pen said she had not been able to get a loan in France and was “a completely free, independent woman”.
• Mr Macron took aim at Le Pen’s assertion that she wanted France to keep its place within the EU while reforming the bloc. “It is a project which dares not speak its name - and that is to leave Europe.”
• Mr Macron called Ms Le Pen a “climate sceptic” to which she replied by calling him a “climate hypocrite”.
• Ms Le Pen spoke about wanting to ban Muslim headscarves in public places. Mr Macron said this would create a “civil war”.
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