Chris Bockman
Reporting from Moissac

In 2020 the small town of Moissac - about an hour north of Toulouse - voted for a far right mayor.

He received 62% of the vote, in part a backlash against the large Rom community that's moved here from Bulgaria in recent years. They make up around 3,000 of the 14,000 population.

Many local residents were very reluctant to speak to me about Marine Le Pen's sentence, especially on camera.

Several did though. One, professional diver Eric, tells me: "The judges made a decision. I don’t share Marine Le Pen’s opinions or values but I think everyone has a right to have their say and run for elections.

"Other people have been sentenced for the same reasons who are still in office or government so you can’t muzzle a voice in a democracy. Condemning is one thing but five years banned is not fair."

Another, François, says there was a cabal but the far right would win the presidential elections anyway next time thanks to Marine Le Pen's deputy leader Jordan Bardella.

"It was a political decision to make her fall, but it won’t change anything because Jordan Bardella will win as they are ahead," he says.

"They brought her down and could have done it before but now, a couple of years before an election, it's strange, no?"

Annie, a retiree, tells me she had little confidence in the French political system: "All politicians are more or less corrupt but its unfair that she is the only one sentenced, it should be the same for everyone."

Image source, Reuters

French Prime Minister François Bayrou is "troubled" by the ruling against Marine Le Pen, local media reports.

In comments made to the AFP news agency and Le Parisien newspaper, an unnamed source within Bayrou's inner circle says he was "troubled by the wording of the judgement".

Bayrou does not intend to make a public statement on the matter, it was further reported.

Image source, Reuters

Marine Le Pen and senior members of the National Rally (RN) are meeting at the party's Paris headquarters for a crisis meeting, following the court's decision to bar her from running for public office for five years.

Le Pen left the court early today before her sentence was fully handed down and has not yet commented on the verdict.

Multiple reports by French news outlets suggest she was driven directly to the RN headquarters, where she was joined by senior members of the party, including party president Jordan Bardella - who may now be in the running to become RN's presidential candidate in 2027.

Le Pen is due to be interviewed tonight at 20:00 (19:00 BST), but as we mentioned earlier, a media scrum is waiting outside the headquarters in hopes of catching a glimpse of her beforehand.

Hugh Schofield
Paris Correspondent

No, not at all. That is why it is slightly controversial.

The rest of the sentence - the prison and suspended term - all that and the fine is suspended pending the appeal.

It is only this question of ineligibility which is not suspended.

This has all happened because French lawmakers - one of whom is herself - toughened up the laws on corruption a few years ago and made this ineligibility a necessity in cases of conviction of this kind of affair.

But now, here is a politician who voted for this law and now has found herself foul of it.

Image source, Getty Images

A little earlier, Le Pen's lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut confirmed she would be appealing today's sentence.

However, columnist Christine Ockrent tells the BBC News channel that the French courts' calendars are overloaded, so it could be 18 months to two years before Le Pen gets her appeal hearing.

"This gets us extremely close to our presidential election in May 2027," she says.

"It may well be in this particular case, the process is a little bit accelerated, it's under no-one's control except the legal system."

Image source, EPA

Philippe Marlière, professor of French politics at University College London, has been speaking to our colleagues on BBC Radio 4's World At One programme about what's next for Marine Le Pen's National Rally party.

As noted earlier by our Paris correspondent, Hugh Schofield, Jordan Bardella - a rising star in the party - will now be in the running to become RN's presidential candidate in 2027.

The 29-year-old's candidacy could prove problematic for the party, however, as he "lacks the political experience and gravitas...to run for highest office in French politics", says Marlière.

This is a "big blow" for RN's prospects in the 2027 election, he adds.

Image source, AFP

A growing media scrum is assembled outside the National Rally headquarters in Paris, live shots from the AFP news agency show, as journalists and camera crews wait in hope for Marine Le Pen to emerge.

If she decides to speak, these will be her first public comments since her guilty verdict was handed down.

We're keeping a close eye on the entrance, and will of course update you if she materialises.

We can bring you more reaction now to the verdict against Marine Le Pen from key political figures in France.

• In a statement, the far-left France Unbowed party says it's "never expected to use the courts as a way to get rid of" the RN

"We fight them at the ballot box and in the streets, with the mobilisation of the French people, as we did during the 2024 legislative elections. We will fight again tomorrow in the polls, whoever is their candidate."

• Fabien Roussel, the national secretary of the French Communist Party, also shared his thoughts

"Ms. Le Pen is a politician who demands firmness on the part of the judiciary! Respect the judicial system then."

• And the former leader of the centre-right Republicans, Eric Ciotti, hit out at the Paris court, saying the "democratic destiny of our nation confiscated by an outrageous judicial cabal"

"The favoured candidate in the presidential election prevented from running. This is not a simple dysfunction. It is a system to capture power that systematically throws aside any candidate that is too far to the right and who has a chance of winning."

Image source, Getty Images

Nigel Farage says Marine Le Pen has been “cancelled” on what he describes as “a very trumped-up charge”.

The Reform UK leader, who is in Kent to campaign ahead of the local elections, tells the BBC the barring of Le Pen from standing for public office is “a trend”.

“In this country we have nine county council elections on 1 May that won’t happen, and may not happen for years," Farage says.

"And in France, they cancelled a candidate. A candidate that would, without doubt, have won the next French presidential election. And you know what, if looks to me like a very trumped-up charge.”

Farage suggests that Eurosceptic parties have been unfairly targeted in legal action such as this.

“I was in the European Parliament for over 20 years, and I watched the way public money was used," he adds.

"And it seems the only people they’ve ever gone after are the Eurosceptic parties. That tells you everything. I don’t see how it could be possible the only people that have ever been in breach of EU funding rules are Eurosceptics. Just not possible.”

Image source, Reuters

More reaction coming to us now, this time from RN's spokesperson Laurent Jacobelli who says Marine Le Pen remains “combative”.

He adds: “We understood that the system was in turmoil, that it wanted to prevent a candidate and voters from meeting.

"We can clearly see that there is a political will behind it and that we are well beyond stating the law.”

Image source, Reuters

When Marine Le Pen woke up this morning, she was considered high among the potential candidates for the next French president. By lunchtime, she was out of the running.

Here's how it all fell apart for Le Pen:

• This morning, a judge handed down a guilty verdict in a trial that saw Le Pen and more than 20 others in the far-right National Rally (RN) party accused of embezzling EU funds
• The court found that RN had taken on EU parliamentary assistants in Brussels, but given them work for the RN party, still using EU funds to pay them
• Shortly after the judge declared Le Pen guilty, she stormed out of the courtroom
• With her absent from the courtroom, the judge sentenced Le Pen to an automatic five-year ban from running for public office, which takes her out of the presidential race
• It means the National Rally will have to start looking at Plan B for 2027 - B as in party president Jordan Bardella, our correspondent Hugh Schofield reports

• She was also given a €100,000 (£82,635) fine, and handed a four-year prison sentence - two years will be will be spent with an electronic tag rather than in custody and the other two are suspended. However, her lawyer has confirmed she will appeal these sentences
• The European Parliament's legal team has welcomed the verdict, but many European politicians, most of whom also represent far-right parties, have condemned the sentence

Rodolphe Bosselut, Le Pen's lawyer, says that his client would appeal the sentence.

Asked about Le Pen's state of mind, Bosseult says she would "tell you what's on her mind herself". Le Pen is due to be interviewed tonight at 20:00 (19:00 BST).

"What is sure is that her lawyer is very unhappy," he told French media.

Image source, Getty Images

We can bring you more reaction now to the verdict against Marine Le Pen, this time from her niece Marion Maréchal, also a member of the European Parliament.

Posting on X, she says Le Pen "brought our camp on the path to victory".

"That is the only thing she is guilty of, and that is why she was convicted. No one on the right should pretend to be satisfied with this decision."

She adds that she is "more than ever at the side" of Le Pen.

One of the lawyers for the European Parliament has welcomed the verdict against Marine Le Pen today.

Patrick Maisonneuve tells reporters the court found "very clearly" there was no doubt the National Rally party had put a system in place to divert European Parliament funds.

"So, for the court there was clearly not a single discussion, or hesitation as regards the guilty verdict," he says.

Le Pen, along with more than 20 other party members, was found guilty of embezzlement - misusing EU funds for party affairs.

The judge ruled there was evidence of a "system" in the National Party that hired assistants meant to be working on European parliamentary affairs, but who instead were actually working for the party.

Here is some of the latest reaction from around the continent to Marine Le Pen's sentence:

• Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders voiced shock, pledged his "100 per cent" support, and said Le Pen would win an appeal "and become president of France" (as a reminder, our correspondent says that seems unlikely)
• Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban backed Le Pen on social media and wrote: "Je suis Marine!" - meaning "I am Marine!"
• In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed "more and more European capitals are going down the path of trampling over democratic norms"
• Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said: "The ruling against Marine Le Pen is a declaration of war by Brussels, at a time when the warlike impulses of Von der Leyen and Macron are frightening. We will not be intimidated, we will not stop: full steam ahead my friend!"

Image source, Reuters

Hugh Schofield
Paris Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Marine Le Pen was expecting a guilty verdict. But she was not expecting this.

In her mind – according to what she told a newspaper on Sunday – the judge would not "dare" to go so far as to bar her from running for the presidency.

She expected a period of ineligibility, yes – but one which would be on hold pending her appeal, thus opening the way for a fourth bid for the top job in 2027.

To be fair, it wasn’t just she who made that prediction. Plenty of commentators have been saying it would be a travesty of democracy if the most popular politician in the country was unable to run.

Even Marine Le Pen’s worst enemies – people like far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou – made it clear they thought an immediate ineligibility would be unfair and unwise.

But it’s happened. And now the National Rally will have to start looking at Plan B for 2027.

B as in Bardella.

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

"It is not just Marine Le Pen who has been unfairly sentenced: it's French democracy that has been executed," Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally (RN), writes on X.

Bardella, who is 29, is a rising star of the RN - and will now be in the running to become its presidential candidate in 2027.

More on that in our next post from my colleague in Paris, Hugh Schofield.

Massive implications for Le Pen, her party and for French democracypublished at 12:29 British Summer Time 31 March

12:29 BST 31 March

Hugh Schofield
Paris Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

After a few tense hours we have a definitive verdict and sentence - and it is the worst Marine Le Pen could have hoped for.

She expected to be convicted, but the key question was the sentence. It is a five-year period of ineligibility which is to be carried out straight away.

What this means is Le Pen cannot run in the next 2027 election - barring some legal twist of which I am completely unaware of.

This of course is an earthquake. It has massive implications for her, her party and French democracy.

Some of her opponents said they had hoped she didn't get this ineligibility - they said she is someone they need to fight at the ballot box, not through the judicial system.

But there it is. Le Pen is out of the race and she is a very angry woman - we saw her leaving the courtroom earlier with a granite-like face.

As we've reported, a French court has given Marine Le Pen a five-year ban on running for office with immediate effect. This means she is barred from running in the 2027 French presidential election race.

She has also been given a four-year prison sentence, of which two will be suspended. The other two can be spent with an electronic tag rather than in custody.

Le Pen has also been given a €100,000 (£82,635) fine.

She will very likely appeal the jail sentence, so this sentence will not apply now.

In addition to the ban from running for public office, Marine Le Pen has been sentenced to four years' imprisonment, two of which will be suspended.

But it's not known if she'll actually spend time in jail or if she will have restrictions, such as wearing an electronic tag.