Leftwing surge thwarts far right in French election

Good morning. Today we start with the results from France’s parliamentary election, as an unexpected leftwing victory has thwarted Marine Le Pen’s efforts to bring the far right to power.

The leftist Nouveau Front Populaire bloc won the most seats in the high-stakes snap election, a severe blow to Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, which had seen a parliamentary majority within reach.

The outcome represents a resounding success for the co-ordinated anti-RN strategy, under which the left and centre tactically withdrew their candidates from run-off ballots.

But the result will leave France in limbo over its next government, with no single bloc near an outright majority in the 577-seat National Assembly. 

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the anti-capitalist firebrand and leader of the far-left La France Insoumise within NFP, struck a combative tone, calling on Macron to appoint a leftwing prime minister. Read the full story.

Join FT experts as they answer your questions about the results, what they mean for France and how they will affect the wider European project, live today from 12pm BST

Here’s what I’m else keeping tabs on today:

• India-Russia relations: Narendra Modi begins a two-day visit to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin.

• Economic data: The Bank of Israel publishes its interest rate announcement, and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation-KPMG jobs report is expected in the UK.

• Companies: Ferrexpo reports and Repsol and Unite Group have trading announcements.

Five more top stories

1. Nato leaders are expected to make a one-year, €40bn pledge of support for Ukraine this week, as the alliance’s most important members are engulfed in domestic political turmoil that limits their capacity to commit more long-term resources to Kyiv in its defence against Russia. Read more about what to expect from the summit in Washington.

2. Exclusive: Former BP chief executive Bernard Looney is seeking a comeback after a scandal last year over his past relationships with colleagues. According to three people with knowledge of the matter, he has met with senior figures in the United Arab Emirates, including Sultan al-Jaber of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

3. Growth is the UK’s ‘national mission’, Rachel Reeves will say in her first major speech since taking office. The UK’s new chancellor will set out far-reaching planning reforms today to “fix the foundations of Britain’s economy”, including measures to unblock stalled housebuilding projects.

4. Exclusive: Brookfield has applied to set up an insurance company in the UK, a move that will allow one of the world’s largest private capital groups to cash in on the wave of British companies offloading their pension plans, fuelled by higher interest rates. Read more about the plan, one of around £40bn worth of such deals expected this year.

5. Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that any deal to free the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza must allow Israel to resume fighting afterwards and achieve all its war goals. The Israeli prime minister also insisted that any deal must prevent both the smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Gaza and the return of militants to the north of the coastal enclave, as a new round of talks is expected to begin this week.

Big Read

Russia’s war in Ukraine has taken drone warfare to new heights of intensity and frequency, with Kyiv saying it has gone from having just six drone makers before the invasion to more than 200, capable of churning out a million drones a year. This rapid proliferation of technology designed by smaller players is challenging the dominance of sluggish defence industry giants.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

• ‘We have never seen such an anomaly’: Climate scientists warn that 2024 is on track to become the hottest year on record.

• Economics Show podcast 🎧: In this week’s episode, Soumaya Keynes asks Nobel Prize laureate Sir Angus Deaton: what is wrong with economics?

• Alzheimer’s Research UK: How chief executive Hilary Evans-Newton took the charity out of the shadows to become Europe’s biggest funder of research into dementia.

Chart of the day

A new report from the National Centre for Social Research argues that “trust and confidence in governments are as low as they have ever been”. And so the challenge for Labour is not just to govern well, but to restore trust in doing so, writes Martin Wolf.

And here are seven more charts that show the scale of the challenge facing Keir Starmer’s government.

Take a break from the news

For decades, Hong Kong has been the city of the “24-hour suit”, where tailors that can whip up a bespoke two-piece in a day or so are legion. But an upcoming set of tailors who favour quality over speed insist on taking their time. So where does this leave the traveller in search of a stylish memento? 

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm