Marine Le Pen has announced that she will still stand in France's presidential election next year, despite a Paris appeal court upholding her conviction for embezzlement just hours earlier. The National Rally (RN) veteran had been considered a strong favourite to succeed Emmanuel Macron, so the ruling — and her defiant response to it — carries significant weight for the future of French politics and her party.

The Court of Appeal of Paris, led by presiding judge Michéle Agi, confirmed the earlier verdict that Le Pen had embezzled the equivalent of more than £1 million from the European Parliament. She was handed a three-year sentence, two years of which were suspended, with the remaining year to be served wearing an electronic tag, plus a €100,000 (£85,000) fine. She was also barred from seeking public office for 45 months, though 30 of those months are suspended. The 57-year-old, pictured alongside RN president Jordan Bardella, said she would pursue every legal avenue to prove her innocence and told French channel TF1: "I am a candidate in the presidential election."