We hope this will provide a breathing space for everyone to take a look at this issue again

Association of Community Health Councils in England and Wales

The plans were also rejected by the House of Lords last month.

They have now been dropped from the Health and Social Care Bill which is being rushed through Parliament before the election.

Ministers were very keen to ensure that other measures in the Bill, including the introduction of free nursing care in residential homes, became law before June 7.

However, the proposals are likely to re-introduced if Labour is returned to power.

The Patients Association said it was "very, very happy" with the decision to drop the plans.

Independent

The 204 CHCs in England and Wales are independent watchdogs which deal with 30,000 complaints against the NHS every year.

They are being retained in Wales but the government wants to scrap them in England and replace them with a new system of patients' groups.

A spokesman for Health Secretary Alan Milburn said: "It is now clear, given the time constraints of the pending General Election, that the whole Bill would be jeopardised unless we remove the clauses relating to patient representation.

"In order to safeguard the introduction of free nursing care from sabotage by Conservative peers in the House of Lords, the Government will not, in this session, now proceed with those clauses of the Bill relating to the abolition of CHCs."

However, he insisted that ministers remained committed to driving through its plans to scrap CHCs if they were returned to power in June.

Dr Liam Fox, shadow health secretary, described the Government's decision to abandon plans to abolish community health councils as a "humiliating climbdown" for the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary.

He said: "Both staked a great deal of their own reputations on the proposal to abolish CHCs.

"Conservatives will be joining the CHCs today in celebrating their momentous victory over Labour's attempt to gag patients' only independent voice in the NHS."

Nick Harvey (N Devon), Liberal Democrat spokesman on health, told MPs that the Government had made a "dog's breakfast" of the Bill.

"If the government it is better to go back to a blank sheet then we are certainly not going to obstruct them in that."

A spokeswoman for the Patients' Association said: "We are very, very happy with this development.

"This gives us more time to oppose the abolition of CHCs, which we see as the only independent body in the health service which represents patients."

A spokesman for the Association of Community Health Councils of England and Wales (ACHEW) said: "We are glad that the Government has recognised the strength of opposition to the abolition of CHCs.

"We hope this will provide a breathing space for everyone to take a look at this issue again and come up with a system which is in the best interests of patients."