Hard-Right figures are enjoying a surge in popularity in France and now make up three of the country’s top five favourite politicians, a survey shows.

A poll released by Ipsos has placed National Rally leader Marine Le Pen in third place, followed by her deputy Jordan Bardella.

Ms Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, who in 2022 deserted her party in favour of the hardline anti-Islam figure Éric Zemmour, came in fifth.

Leading the list was Gabriel Attal, France’s youthful education minister.

Separate polling showed that Mr Bardella had jumped 15 places to sixth most popular politician over the past month.

The National Rally is also polling to come first in next June’s European Parliament elections, eight points ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance alliance.

The polling comes amid a crisis for Mr Macron’s government which suffered a humiliating defeat on an immigration bill in the national parliament last week.

Le Pen teamed up with opposition to stop bill 

Mr Macron’s government had planned to bring in legislation that would have speeded up asylum cases while legalising undocumented migrants in sectors where the country needs workers.

However, Ms Le Pen teamed up with opposition factions across the political spectrum to make sure that the bill did not even make it to a debate.

Interior minister Gérald Darmanin offered his resignation in the aftermath, but that failed to quell calls from the opposition benches for new elections.

Ms Le Pen, 55, has made clear that she plans to have another crack at the presidency in 2027 after losing to Mr Macron in 2017 and again last year.

However, she is facing problems of her own after she was charged earlier this month in a fake jobs scandal.

Party denies misappropriating millions of euros 

She faces a potential 10-year ban from serving in public office, plus a jail sentence of a similar length, after prosecutors charged her and her party of misappropriating millions of euros in EU funds.

The hard-Right party has denied the charges. It said: “We formally contest the accusations made against our MEPs and parliamentary assistants”, adding that Ms Le Pen “has not committed any offence or irregularity”.