French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou passed the first test of his new minority government on Thursday as he survived a vote of no-confidence called by the hard left after the centre-left Socialist Party did not back the motion.

Although Bayrou looks likely to survive the no-confidence motion put forward by 58 far-left France Unbowed (LFI), Green and communist MPs, a loss of Socialist support would be a big blow, especially after he offered on Tuesday to renegotiate a disputed 2023 pension reform law to win their backing.

Only 131 lawmakers voted for motion, far from 289 votes required to adopt it, Socialist Party criticized for not backing motion - Anadolu Ajansı

France's centre-left Socialist party will not back a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Thursday, its leader said, which will enable Bayrou's minority government to live to fight another day.

PARIS (Reuters) - The French centre-left Socialist party will not back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's government, Le Figaro reported on Thursday, citing an intra-party meeting.

A total of 131 lawmakers voted in favour of the motion - well short of the 288 votes needed for it to pass. Read more at straitstimes.com.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Thursday survived his first vote of no confidence in parliament after the motion, brought by the leftist opposition, failed to gain traction with the far right.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Thursday survived his first vote of no confidence in parliament after the motion, brought by the leftist opposition, failed to gain traction on the far right

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has opened the door to renegotiating President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform. In his general policy speech at the National Assembly, Bayrou expressed his desire to gain support from the Socialist party for the 2025 budget,