Lonely at the top? Macron’s support in parliament erodes

Seventeen left-leaning dissidents inside French President Emmanuel Macron’s LREM party are forming a breakaway voting bloc at the National Assembly. The shock move announced on Tuesday leaves Macron one seat shy of an outright majority. Because of the support of centrists, the party defections are hardly expected to bring down the government but it does chisel away at its ability to pursue reforms in the two years remaining before the next presidential poll.