French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou passed the first test of his new minority government on Thursday as he survived a vote of no-confidence called by the hard left after the centre-left Socialist Party did not back the motion.

PARIS (Reuters) - The French Socialist Party, whose support Francois Bayrou's minority government has been trying to secure for weeks, on Tuesday raised the threat of backing a no-confidence vote against the government later this week.

The French Socialist Party, whose support Francois Bayrou's minority government has been trying to secure for weeks, raised the threat of backing a no-confidence vote against the government later

The French centre-left Socialist party will not back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's government, Le Figaro reported on Thursday, citing an intra-party meeting.

A total of 131 lawmakers voted in favour of the motion - well short of the 288 votes needed for it to pass. Read more at straitstimes.com.