French PM Sébastien Lecornu survives two no-confidence votes by MPs

Summary

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu survives two no-confidence votes, after his pledge to suspend pension reform wins him the support of left-wing MPs
He narrowly wins the first motion by 18 votes and survives the second, brought by the far right, by a larger margin - which MPs voted against Lecornu?
Lecornu lives to fight another day - but his feeblest of governments faces plenty more challenges, our Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield writes
Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally previously said "this isn't a political crisis, it's a crisis of politicians"
Lecornu only became PM in September - who is the Macron ally and self-described "soldier-monk"?

French government faces two no-confidence votespublished at 08:56 BST 16 October

Cachella Smith
Live reporter

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu gestures as he delivers a speech — Image caption,
PM Sébastien Lecornu - who took the job in September - resigned earlier this month before being reappointed

Welcome to our live coverage. The political turmoil in France continues this morning as the prime minister faces two no-confidence votes - one lodged by the far-right National Rally Party and the second by the radical left party La France Insoumise.

It's the latest in an unsettling period for France, and last week, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu - France's third prime minister in the last year - was reappointed to his role only four days after he resigned.

The budget, public debt and pension reforms have been among issues that have fragmented parliament recently.

Today's debate is under way and the votes are expected to take place within the coming hours - we'll be monitoring developments closely but first we'll catch you up on the latest.

French PM Sébastien Lecornu survives two no-confidence votes by MPs

Summary

Live Reporting

French government faces two no-confidence votespublished at 08:56 BST 16 October

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