The French government nearing collapse is dominating the news today. At first look, what’s happening in France couldn’t be more different from our situation – their government is a crumbling coalition, while the mighty majority in the UK should make our government an edifice. But on both sides of the Channel the same ructions apply: we are both advanced economies with unpopular budgets, which are causing some people to get a taste for resistance.
At lunchtime the French government offered National Rally leader Marine Le Pen a “final hour concession” to head off a proposed vote of no-confidence in the government. By tea time, Prime Minister Michel Barnier had had enough and rammed his budget through without a vote and setting wheels in motion for an expected no-confidence vote as early as Wednesday. Apart from chaos in France, this turbulence in one of the UK’s biggest trading partners adds to the headwinds buffeting a government with already shrinking fiscal headroom.
