French government survives second no-confidence vote over 2026 budget

PARIS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The French government survived a second vote of no-confidence in parliament on Friday that had had been called over its decision to ram through the income part of the 2026 budget without giving the National Assembly the final say.

The motion, filed by the far-right National Rally (RN) party, was backed by 142 members of parliament. 288 votes were needed for the motion to pass.

An earlier no-confidence motion filed by the hard-left on the same matter had also failed.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is now expected to invoke article 49.3 in the Constitution to force through the expenditure part of the budget, which will likely trigger further votes of no confidence.