The clear warning for Keir Starmer and Labour from the rise of the French far-right

If I was a political advisor to Emmanuel Macron, I would suggest that he spends the morning nursing his wounds on the sofa, while watching this year’s musical remake of coming-of-age classic Mean Girls.

Or perhaps he would prefer the 2004 original. Either way, he has the same lesson to learn from the cult film.

When the French president introduced a hard line immigration bill late last year, it was a desperate, last-ditch attempt to keep France’s growing right-wing on his side.

In cracking down on immigration, Mr Macron - like the film’s heroine, Cady Heron - ditched his faithful besties in favour of popularity with the cool kidz far-right voters.

It backfired. This weekend’s first round election saw Marine LePen’s National Rally (RN) party become the dominant political force in France, while Mr Macron’s party was decimated.

Labour must be careful not to follow the same path if it finds itself in power from Thursday. If it does, it could find itself alienating not only its allies south of the border, but Scotland as a whole.

The French leader, meanwhile, is now scrabbling around, trying to mend bridges with his old friends.

His prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has urged tactical voting with the left to keep out RN.

“The stakes are clear: to prevent the National Rally from having an absolute majority,” Mr Attal said, adding that his centrist alliance would step down some candidates to ensure unity against the right. Whether it will work - as it has twice before in 2017 and 2022 - remains to be seen. The single fact that Mr Macron’s controversial bill was supported by RN was a clear sign that he had drunk the Kool Aid. The decision split his own Renaissance party and sparked the walk-out of his health minister, as well as angering left-wing parties.

“Hey, buddy, you're not pretending anymore. You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard plastic,” socialist party leader Olivier Faure said to Mr Macron at the time.

Tina Fey attends the premiere of the new musical film version of Mean Girls. | Getty Images

Or perhaps that comment came from Mean Girls character Janis and what Mr Faure actually said was: “History will remember those who betrayed their convictions.” Same difference. Meanwhile, RN politicians were rubbing their hands in glee, having got what they needed from him before leaving him to eat lunch alone in the school canteen.

Ms Le Pen herself described the bill, which discriminated between citizens and both legal and illegal migrants, in determining eligibility for benefits, as an "ideological victory" for the far-right. Speaking about the possibility of a devolved immigration policy for Scotland, first minister John Swinney has already warned Labour has a “very, very hostile” attitude towards immigration. Like the Conservative party before him, Sir Keir Starmer has adopted the expression “stop the boats”.

Yet, Scotland’s problem is very different to that of England. We need more people to work here. Even some Scottish Conservatives have admitted that.

A potential alliance between the Scottish Government and a Labour-led Westminster that a separate immigration plan for Scotland has been mooted this week, which would be a welcome step forward.

But if Labour attempts to be all things to all people by cracking down hard on immigration to appease the far-right, it could find itself losing the support of an entire nation which should, by all rights be one of its most staunch allies.