The Times understands that a delayed transition, proposed by the gay rights group Stonewall, would be accepted by supporters of the law to give agencies time to prepare themselves.

“If they wanted a six or twelve-month introduction period to prepare for the regulations, that would be a reasonable compromise,” a source involved in the discussions said.

Catholic adoption agencies deal with the cases that are most difficult to place. Another Whitehall source said that the aim was to give time to protect adoptions and follow-up services for children in care provided by these agencies.

Tony Blair gave ground to critics of the Government’s handling of the policy yesterday when he assured four Labour backbenchers that he was not seeking an exemption from the law for Catholic adoption and fostering agencies.

The meeting with Angela Eagle, Chris Bryant, David Borrow and Greg Pope took some of the heat out of the row, which has divided the Cabinet and pitched the Catholic and Anglican Churches against the Government.

Mr Bryant refused to comment on what was discussed, but said: “We had a constructive conversation. The Government is still wholly supportive of gays being able to adopt when it is in the interests of the child. Everybody wants to get to a situation with as many adoptive parents as possible.”

MPs detected a shift in tone from Mr Blair. Last week he had a heated discussion with backbenchers’ representatives on the parliamentary committee, where he was challenged by Ms Eagle and appeared to side with the Catholic Church.

But Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, became the latest Cabinet minister to break ranks and oppose publicly any exemption for adoption agencies. He told Sky News: “There are disagreements on lots of issues but we are very clear on this. There was always an issue about adoption agencies because, from the start of this process, the Catholic Church has been arguing that Catholic adoption agencies are exempt. I don’t agree but there are other points of view and we need to debate them.”

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Harriet Harman, the Constitutional Affairs Minister, and, like Mr Johnson, a candidate for Labour’s deputy leadership, also cautioned against any dilution of the law. She told the New Statesman magazine: “You can either be against discrimination or you can allow for it. You can’t be a little bit against discrimination.”

Mr Blair’s private assurance that he did not want such an exemption left Ruth Kelly, who is responsible for the regulations as Minister for Equality, looking increasingly isolated.

Government sources said this month that Ms Kelly, a staunch Catholic and member of the secretive Opus Dei movement, had discussions with colleagues on the option of an exemption aimed at placating Catholic adoption agencies.

This was not put in writing because technically her department is still considering responses to a consultation on the regulations and she has yet to submit her proposals to ministers on the Cabinet’s domestic affairs committee.

The consultation paper, introduced by Mr Johnson last year when he was Trade Secretary, stated that there would be no exemptions other than for doctrinal reasons to allow ministers of religion to preach without fear of legal challenge.

Many MPs were angered by the intervention of church leaders seeking an opt-out for Catholic adoption services, particularly that of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, who wrote to ministers saying that 12 adoption and fostering agencies would otherwise face closure.

But privately some MPs questioned whether the impact would be as dramatic as the archbishop claimed. They suggested that some agencies might decide to change their policies and accept gay couples as potential adopters in local agreements with bishops, and if others did close their provision could be quickly replaced.

The Equality Act, which sought to end discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services on the ground of sexual orientation was passed last year, but it left the details to regulations that are now under debate.

Its provisions were due to take effect from April 6, but first the regulations must be agreed by ministers, published in draft form and submitted to both Houses of Parliament for approval.

Similar provisions became law in Northern Ireland this month, but there was no equivalent row as the Adoption and Children Act 2002, which allowed unmarried and gay couples to adopt together, applied only to England and Wales.

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