France’s minority government looks in its final hours as opposition lawmakers from the left and the far right vowed to topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s Cabinet

France’s prime minister, Michel Barnier, is facing a no-confidence vote that could leave the country without a functioning government or a budget as it enters the new year.

The last time the National Assembly brought down a government was in 1962. “The French will not forgive us if we put individual interests before that of the nation,” Mr Barnier pleaded to deputies in the chamber.

France's minority government is in a precarious position, with the far-right National Rally party promising to force the collapse of Prime Minister Michel Barnier's cabinet unless it yields to its demands on next year's budget.

Prime Minister Michel Barnier pushed a budget bill through the lower house of Parliament without a vote. A no-confidence vote this week could topple him and his cabinet.