Emmanuel Macron has admitted that his decision to dissolve the National Assembly last year was a failure.

“I have to admit this evening that, for the moment, the dissolution has brought more divisions to the Assembly than solutions for the French people,” the French president said in his annual New Year’s Eve address to the country.

French media described the 11-minute speech, his shortest New Year’s Eve address since being elected in 2017, as a rare moment of humility for Mr Macron, who acknowledged that his decision to call snap legislative elections last summer had proved a disaster.

“I decided to dissolve the Assembly in order to give you back your say, to restore clarity and avoid the immobility that was threatening,” he said.

“But lucidity and humility demand that we recognise that, at this time, this decision has produced more instability than serenity, and I take full responsibility for this.”

Mr Macron’s decision to call snap elections on the eve of the Paris Olympics backfired spectacularly.