Sunak's migrant migraine

PM's survives Rwanda vote headache but it could still be sunk next month

- JOHN STEVENS and DAVE BURKE and ASHLEY COWBURN 

RISHI Sunak may have won last night's crunch vote on his cruel Rwanda policy but he was warned his own MPs could still sink the law in the New Year.

And the PM's days may be numbered if he fails to give in to demands by right-wing Tory rebels to toughen up the Bill amid fears the asylum seeker deportation plan could be left open to legal challenges.

Yesterday, 29 MPs defied him by abstaining in the vote, which passed by 313 votes to 269, and refusing to back his emergency legislation.

The major revolt came despite them not having permission to be absent.

One former minister said of Mr Sunak: "He's a dead man walking. He will limp on to January, but he won't survive the year. He simply cannot go on like this."

A Tory plotter warned Downing Street was in trouble and added: "They're f****d. They've kicked the problem to January." And Mr Sunak also came under fire over his obsession with a deportation policy that critics branded a costly gimmick while millions of British people struggle with the cost of living crisis.

Labour's Yvette Cooper yesterday warned No10 was paralysed by bitter infighting over Rwanda that is ripping the party apart.