French PM halts pensions overhaul to gain allies in no-confidence vote

France’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has suspended Emmanuel Macron’s flagship 2023 pension overhaul until after the 2027 presidential election in the hope of winning over enough Socialist deputies to survive a no-confidence vote.

- Jon Henley

In a welcome respite for the embattled French president, the left-leaning party, which holds the balance of power in a deeply divided parliament, suggested in response yesterday that it would not back any of the no-confidence motions to be voted on later this week.

After the centre-right Les Républicains (LR) said it would back the government, no-confidence votes already submitted by the far-right National Rally (RN) and radical left France Unbowed (LFI) and due to be voted on tomorrow would need Socialist party (PS) support to succeed.

Responding to Lecornu's announcement, the PS parliamentary leader, Boris Vallaud, did not explicitly say the party would not vote to topple Lecornu. But he hailed a “victory” and said it was “prepared to take a bet” on further debate for now.

A PS deputy, Laurent Baumel, went further, telling BFMTV the party - which is divided on how to handle the fragile administration, and had warned it might submit its own no-confidence vote - “will not vote in favour” of ousting the government for the time being.