The towers of the ArcelorMittal steel mill loom over the little town of Hayange, silent and shuttered. Few people stopped to chat on a recent winter day – the streets were shrouded in an icy fog – but those who paused summarised life here succinctly: There has been little work since the blast furnaces at the mill were shut down in 2013, and little hope either.

"Everyone is sick of it," said Pascal, who declined to give his last name, leaning on the door of his tattoo parlour. "100 per cent I am going to vote for Marine Le Pen."