France in political crisis as PM ousted

France has been plunged into political crisis after a no-confidence vote brought down the government, ending the beleaguered minority coalition of the rightwing prime minister Michel Barnier after only three months.

The no-confidence motion brought by an alliance of left-wing parties was supported by MPs from Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration, far-right, National Rally. A total of 331 lawmakers - a clear majority - voted on Wednesday night to bring down the government.

Barnier will have to resign as prime minister, having warned before the vote that France would be "plunged into the unknown".

It leaves the president, Emmanuel Macron, facing the worst political crisis of his two terms as president. There is uncertainty over how a 2025 budget can be decided and over whom Macron could appoint as prime minister.

Macron is not obliged to stand down himself. He has ruled out resigning, calling such a scenario "political fiction". But part of the left and far right called for his exit.

Wednesday's vote was the country's first successful no-confidence vote since a defeat for Georges Pompidou's government in 1962, when Charles de Gaulle was president. The lifespan of Barnier's government became the shortest of any administration of France's Fifth Republic, which began in 1958.

No new parliament elections can be called before July 2025.