Britain beware – France’s election has exposed the dangers of failing to tame the far-right

Britain may be on the cusp of a Labour government for the first time in 14 years, but Emmanuel Macron’s failed election gamble in France shows the danger of failing to take the rise of the far-right seriously. Keir Starmer cannot make the same mistake, writes Sean O’Grady

Emmanuel Macron’s election gamble does not appear to have paid off, with Rassemblement National on course to become the largest party in the National Assembly (Reuters)

This week the peoples of the two most venerable large democracies in Europe are, in their different ways, deciding their future. That is a cause for some considerable celebration.

What is more disturbing is that so many people are lurching to the right at the ballot box; in the UK, where Reform UK maintains a healthy vote share despite a slew of racism allegations against some of the party’s parliamentary candidates, and in France, where millions of voters are prepared to support a party that is, basically, fascistic. We have become so inured to the long-term rise of the more extreme right that we sometimes lose sight of what is happening. More than one in three French voters have just opted for the National Rally party – or Rassemblement National (RN) – the latest rebranding of the old National Front, led by veteran far-right campaigner Marine Le Pen.

France may be on the verge, in the second round elections on Saturday, of its first far-right government since the Nazis installed the collaborationist Vichy regime in the Second World War. Worse, this could be the first time the French have opted for such rule of their own free will. It would be an administration that would deny the ancient right of French citizenship through birth, a principle dating back to 1515 – the children of migrants could not call themselves “French” (hardly conducive to integration). This would indeed be historic.