The Prime Minister has previously insisted his new law aimed at reviving the asylum deportation policy was the “only approach”.
But new legal migration minister Tom Pursglove suggested there could be some wiggle room as the PM seeks to get emergency legislation through Parliament.
Mr Sunak will spend the weekend trying to win over disgruntled Tory MPs. He faces dissent from hardline Tories and MPs from the more moderate wing of the party, with the prospect of a bitter parliamentary battle.
Warring backbenchers – dubbed the “five families” – across the party are deciding whether to support
the revised legislation on Tuesday, designed to get flights to Africa off the ground in the spring.
The Daily Express understands up to “two dozen” Right-wingers could vote against the draft Bill because it’s “not tough enough”.
And several Tories are also said to be uneasy about the legislation because it goes “too far”. Mr Pursglove, who replaced Robert Jenrick following his dramatic resignation on Wednesday, said ministers “will engage constructively with parliamentarians around any concerns that they have”.
Writing for the Conservative Home website, Right-wing MPs James Daly and Philip Davies said all Tories should back the plan.
This was despite criticism from ex-home secretary Suella Braverman and Mr Jenrick, who wrote: “We don’t have long left to prove to our voters that we have regained control of our borders and fulfilled his [the Prime Minister’s] pledge to break the cycle,
deliver a deterrent, remove the incentive and stop the boats.”
Tory MP Jonathan Gullis said he “certainly hopes” his party will vote in favour of the Government’s emergency legislation.
He said he is “like many other colleagues” taking “independent legal advice” on the matter, after it was reported that Government lawyers said the scheme won’t work.
Mr Gullis added he is “keen to see the Government produce the legal advice given to No10 and the Home Office”.
He added: “I hope it will work but I’m sceptical at this present time.” He also said Mr Sunak “should lead us into the next general election”.
It comes amid claims two senior lawyers told the PM the plan still gives arrivals the ability to individually challenge their removal to Africa in the courts. The PM’s deputy spokesman said: “We expect that those able to provide compelling evidence about specific individual risks will be vanishingly narrow and that’s why we believe that this is the best approach to get flights swiftly off the ground.”
Tackling illegal migration by stopping small boat crossings is one of Mr Sunak’s key pledges. Last year, a plane carrying asylum seekers to Rwanda was set to leave Boscombe Down airfield, Wilts, only to be stopped after last-minute legal rulings.
Dominic Cummings has also weighed in to the row, saying it is “game over” for the Rwanda policy and that Mr Sunak is “out of time”. The former chief adviser to Boris Johnson said the PM was warned “explicitly and repeatedly” that the deportation policy would fail.
And he said Mr Sunak is setting the stage for a “useless attempt” next year to claim he has been thwarted by the courts and then run a “take back control” election.
Mr Cummings said: “It won’t work. The Tories are doomed if they keep him and doomed if they spasm and fire him.”
Tory chairman Richard Holden warned that replacing Mr Sunak before the general election would be “insanity”, amid reports that some backbenchers want him gone.
