With cheers of surprise and shocked faces, Bundestag MPs narrowly rejected a migration bill on Friday pushed by the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and backed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued rare public criticism of her successor as the country’s center-right leader, the front-runner in Germany’s election next month, for putting to parliament proposals for tough new migration rules that only passed with the help of a far-right party.