Newspaper headlines: Rwanda vote 'down to the wire' amid 'standoff'

Tuesday's papers focused on the PM's battle to persuade Tory MPs to back his Rwanda bill

Many of the front pages are dominated by the Commons debate on Rwanda.

The Times believes the prime minister is facing a big rebellion from Conservatives on the right of the party, but is going to push on with the vote on the emergency legislation to underpin the scheme anyway. The paper says the vote will be a significant test of Rishi Sunak's authority.

The more than 40 MPs threatening to vote against the bill or abstain are reported to want concessions on the it's wording, some of which they insist needs "major surgery, or replacing". They don't believe it goes far enough in blocking potential legal challenges by asylum-seekers due to be deported to Rwanda. The government says stopping all legal challenges could breach international law.

"Down To The Wire" is the Daily Mail's headline - with one senior Conservative telling the paper the vote is "looking tight". The paper says Mr Sunak is battling to stop a revolt which could not only derail his Rwanda policy, but even his government. Inside - in an editorial and in an opinion piece by the former home secretary Priti Patel - the paper urges the right of the party to unite behind the legislation.

The Daily Express quotes a member of the New Conservatives faction - which sits of the right of the party - as saying they have the numbers to rebel successfully. The same source told the paper he thought the prime minister would actually scrap the vote.

Former defence secretary Ben Wallace warns in the Daily Telegraph that the row must not be allowed to bring the government down. He urges his colleagues not to make what he calls "the perfect (but unrealistic) the enemy of the good".

The Financial Times says a number of countries have accused Saudi Arabia of pressuring the COP28 president to shift the focus of the final draft text away from agreeing on the phasing out of fossil fuels. One senior EU negotiator said there was a proactive fossil fuel coalition.

The Guardian says the text was met with "concern and anger" by many climate experts. Others delegates, though, welcomed the fact that for the first time a COP text had actually mentioned reducing fossil fuel production.

According to The Times, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has "berated" Russia's president for supporting a ceasefire resolution at Friday's UN Security Council meeting. Israel regards a ceasefire as tantamount to surrender. Mr Netanyahu is said to have defended Israel's stance during a 50-minute phone call with Vladimir Putin.

The Daily Mirror reports on what it calls the "shocking" cancer death rates between different areas in England. It says a new study, by researchers at Imperial College London, showed that people in poorer areas were more likely to die from the disease than those in wealthier ones - which the paper calls a "cancer poverty trap". It said a north-south divide in life expectancy was particularly clear.

And the Times reports that most Christmas carols are almost certainly being sung to the wrong tune - and we should probably be dancing to them. Research into Christmas customs by English Heritage suggests most medieval carols were probably sung to tunes made up on the spot, and would have involved far more movement by the singers. "They would have been a rather jolly affair," says Dr Michael Carter, a senior historian with the heritage charity.

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