French PM ousted after losing confidence vote

François Bayrou has been ousted in a confidence vote after only nine months as prime minister, collapsing his minority government and plunging France into a political crisis.

- Angelique Chrisafis

Bayrou, 74, will hand his resignation to Emmanuel Macron, his long-term centrist ally, this morning. The French president now faces the challenge of appointing his third prime minister in only one year, and the fifth since he began his second term of office in 2022. His office said he would make the decision "in the coming days".

Bayrou was toppled when 364 deputies - members of parliament - voted that they had no confidence in the government. Just 194 gave him their confidence. Bayrou called the vote himself as a last-ditch gamble for support, saying he needed backing from parliament for austerity measures to reduce the public debt.

In a speech to parliament before the vote, Bayrou said France was under threat from its "inexorable swamp of debt" and must find a "compromise" on a budget. He said if "minimal" understanding and consensus was not found in the divided parliament then "government action will be destined to fail".

When the leaders of opposition party groups, from the left to the far right, made fiercely critical speeches against him, he said: "I won't respond to insults," and warned that the image of verbal "violence and contempt" among politicians was damaging democracy.

Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally party told parliament that Bayrou's departure was "the end of the agony of a phantom government".