Gordon Brown performed a swift U-turn over government plans to block the publication of MPs expenses yesterday.

The Prime Minister told the Commons that the plans to amend Freedom of Information laws to exempt MPs expenses would be abandoned.

The House had been due to vote on the measures today, with Labour MPs under a three line whip to vote in favour.

But Mr Brown said yesterday that the lack of cross-party support meant a vote would no longer held tomorrow and the issue would be reviewed further.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, he blamed the Tories for withdrawing their support from the controversial move and leaving the Government isolated, a charge that David Cameron, the Conservative leader, denied.

“We thought we had agreement on the Freedom of Information Act as part of this wider package,” he said. “Recently that support that we believed we had from the main opposition party was withdrawn.

“So on this particular matter, I believe all-party support is important and we will continue to consult on that matter.”

Mr Brown made the announcement in response to a question from Douglas Carswell, the Tory MP, who asked why he was whipping the MPs to pass the matter.

The Conservatives denied, however, that there had been any "trickery", with the Shadow Leader of the House Alan Duncan saying that the party had rejected the moves on principle. “What was wrong with this is that Parliament made the law, the law included Parliament in it and now we’re looking backwards and saying ’Oops, we don’t like it’," he said.

Mr Cameron later issued a statement welcoming the Government’s “embarrassing U-turn”. “To exempt MPs from the FOI Act would be completely wrong. They should be treated the same as everybody else,” he said.

“The public demand and deserve greater transparency from their politicians and this would have been a step in the wrong direction.

“This is about the simple principle that MPs are given taxpayers’ money to help them represent voters. Taxpayers struggling to get by in this recession surely have a right to know how their money is going to be spent.”

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• All that glitters is not sold in Wright’s world
• Believe it or not, Big Brother is your friend