Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda plan scrapes through as Tory rebel MPs mass abstain – but PM faces fresh New Year revolt

RISHI Sunak's Rwanda plan scraped through a Commons showdown tonight after Tory rebels blinked - but warned of fresh trouble in the New Year.

The PM's flagship immigration legislation survived despite dozens of right-wing MPs publicly pulling their support at the last minute.

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But by abstaining - rather than the nuclear option of voting against the government - the rebels grudgingly let the the PM squeak a win.

Some 313 MPs voted for the Bill, with 269 opposition MPs voting against - a majority of 44.

However revolt ringleader Mark Francois warned they would seek to toughen the Bill up after Christmas in a warning shot to Downing St.

It leaves Mr Sunak in a tight spot as centrist Tory backbenchers today made clear they would not stomach any more changes.

After a meeting of the "Five Families" of Conservative right-wing caucuses tonight, Mr Francois said: "We have decided collectively that we cannot support the Bill tonight because of its many omissions.”

But rather than torpedoing it entirely he said: "We are not supporting the Bill. The bulk of us will abstain."

Defeat would have sparked a full-blown crisis for the PM and likely spurred renewed calls for an election from Labour.

The last time the government lost a "second reading" - where the principle of a motion is voted on - was in 1986.

After snatching a slim victory No10 spokesman said tonight: "Tonight the House has shown its support for the Prime Minister's legislation to deem Rwanda safe and stop the boats.

"This bill is the toughest legislation ever introduced to parliament. It deems Rwanda safe notwithstanding any other interpretation of international law and it makes clear that this parliament, not any foreign court is sovereign.

“We will now work to ensure that this Bill gets on to the Statute book so that we can get flights off to Rwanda and stop the boats.”

DAY OF DRAMA

On a day of high-stakes drama, Tory rebels exploded after being warned they face “consequences” if they voted against the Bill.

Right-wing big beast Sir Bill Cash angrily confronted Chief Whip Simon Hart for making the veiled threat to strip wavering MPs of the whip.

Mr Hart was last night in the crosshairs as rebel sources slammed his “woeful” engagement with them ahead of the crunch vote.

Mr Sunak personally led a day of ferocious lobbying that began with a dawn breakfast meeting of the New Conservatives caucus.

Over bacon butties the PM implored the hardliners to back the Bill and dangled the prospect of “tightening it up” later down the line.

He followed it up with a last-ditch appeal stressing: “To stop the boats, we need to back this bill.”

Party tensions were laid bare in a fiery Commons debate where Home Secretary James Cleverly made the case for the government.

Flanked by the PM, he said: “This is an innovative and humane solution to a growing global problem.”

COMMONS SHOWDOWN

Rebel ringleader Danny Kruger bluntly told the PM that he should pull the bill, commit to making amendments - but if he refused to budge MPs would vote against in numbers.

Fellow backbencher Jonathan Gullis said like-minded MPs still had “grave concerns” about the legislation as it meant individual claims could be launched.

He added:  “I still have those concerns that we will end up being bogged down with individual claims that mean that we’ll see very few people put on the plane to Rwanda.”

Ex-Cabinet Minister David Jones threatened to half the government in its tracks which would seriously undermine the authority of the PM.

He told Times Radio: “We believe we have the numbers, if necessary, to stop the Bill progressing.”

But Mr Sunak does not have much wriggle room as the One Nation caucus of Tory centrists will not stomach any hardening.

Senior Tory Bob Neill said the Rwanda plan sails "as close to the wind" as possible.

As the vote went down to the wire, climate minister Graham Stuart was been summoned back from the COP summit in Dubai - and will fly back to the Gulf after the result.

A Tory civil war broke out last week following the resignation of Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, who said the legislation was too weak to make the Rwanda plan a success.

While it disapplies elements of the Human Rights Act, it does not completely overrule it and also the European Convention on Human Rights MPs like Suella Braverman wanted.