Rishi ready to tackle Labour on migrants after vote

A STRENGTHENED Rishi Sunak will take the fight to Labour on illegal immigration after winning MPS' backing for his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

- David Williamson

The scene is set for a battle royal in the Lords with peers primed to try to water down his emergency legislation designed to stop legal challenges derailing the Rwanda plan.

The Prime Minister is expected to seize on two areas where he believes Labour is weak - claiming Sir Keir Starmer's party has "no plan" to tackle immigration and "no plan" for the economy.

Any speculation that the PM could be toppled was dashed last week when just 11 Conservative MPs voted against the Rwanda Bill.

A former senior Cabinet minister said Mr Sunak was now safe and accused MPs who "wanted to dispose of Rishi and boost their own leadership chances" as "behaving like bandits".

"These guys look absolutely super, super crazy," they said.

A priority in the run-up to the election, expected this autumn, is stopping voters switching their support from the Tories to Reform UK the successor to the Brexit Party.