Instead, on Macron’s orders, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne used a controversial clause in the Constitution, Article 49.3, to pass the bill.

The Republican Party are widely supportive of Macron’s reform bill, which raises the age of retirement from sixty-two to sixty-four, and issued instructions for its sixty-one Members of Parliament to vote against the motion. But nineteen of its MPs defied orders, adding to the dissent and disorder which has swept France in recent days, in parliament and on the street.