The white statue of Notre Dame de Hayange gazes across the Valley of Angels towards the carcasses of two huge, dormant blast furnaces.

The failed fight to prevent their 2013 closure in the heart of eastern France's rust belt has come to symbolise rampant de-industralisation in a country that has lost 1.5 million jobs in industry in the past 25 years.

The FN hopes to repeat electoral success in Hayange on a national level

Once staunchly Left-wing, Hayange, population 16,000, is is now one of 11 towns in France run by the Front National, whose candidate Marine Le Pen is heading to sail into the final round of presidential elections on May 7.

With its promise of protectionism, the FN clinched more than 50 per cent of the vote in 2015 regional elections here. Nothing suggests it won't fare as well, if not better, in May. Its popularity is such that the Communist mayor of a neighbouring town remarked: "Even a goat with an FN label would get elected right now."