French election: Macron and Le Pen clash in TV presidential debate

Ms Le Pen said 70% of the French people believed their standard of living had fallen over the past five years and she would be the president of civil peace and national brotherhood.

Mr Macron said France had known unprecedented crisis, with Covid followed by war in Europe.

Retirement age: This is another of the big election issues: Emmanuel Macron has said France needs to raise the pension age from 62 to 65 over nine years, while Ms Le Pen wants to keep it at 62.

Ms Le Pen said his proposal was “absolutely intolerable”

“You are a climate sceptic, that’s pretty obvious,” Mr Macron said to his rival

Constitutional change: Another of Marine Le Pen’s big policies is for citizens’ referendums, which she said were rooted in the yellow-vest or gilets jaunes protests that began early in the Macron presidency

The choice for voters is far clearer than five years ago, when Emmanuel Macron won with very little experience as a politician.