Tony Blair was forced onto the defensive today over the government’s U-turn on Home Information Packs as those within the housing industry also criticised the move.

Tory leader David Cameron taunted the Prime Minister in the Commons over the "dropping" of plans for home information packs and suggested it was time both he and John Prescott "saddled up and rode off into the sunset".

In rowdy Commons question time exchanges ahead of the summer recess, Mr Blair said that the most expensive and controversial part of the packs - mandatory home condition reports - had been shelved following representations from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Mr Cameron said: "I think you need to mug up on this area because after all you are going to be moving house soon.

"The fact is that the housing minister said introducing home condition reports would have significant risks and potential disadvantages.

"For months we were told about the benefits of these reports. Now we’re told about the disadvantages. Why did ministers get it so wrong?"

Mr Blair said: "There would be tremendous benefits in the home condition reports - because people waste a lot of money acquiring the reports and then losing that money if the sale doesn’t go through.

"But if the Council of Mortgage Lenders, having consulted their members, say that won’t be enough in order for people to get a mortgage because they will be asking for an additional report - of course it’s sensible to make it voluntary rather than mandatory."

Yvette Cooper, the Housing Minister, said yesterday that home condition reports, akin to a traditional survey, would no longer be a mandatory part of Home Information Packs.

Today consumer groups, estate agents and industry experts accused the Government of being manipulated by industry groups with vested interests.

The loudest criticism came from consumer group, Which?.They originally supported the introduction of Hips but has now withdrawn its support of the Government over what it calls "the Hips fiasco".

Nick Stace, campaigns and communications director at Which? said: "The homebuyer was looking to the government to hold firm in the face of criticism from the estate agents, instead the government has shown its house is made of straw."

Although most estate agents were against the introduction of Hips some were still unimpressed by the Government turnaround. Paul Smith, chief executive of estate agents Spicerhaart, accused the minister of a "cop-out".

Shares in property website Rightmove tumbled after it announced that the changes in Hips would "significantly" hit company earnings.

Hip providers were also left in doubt over their future. Paul Broadhead, deputy director general of the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) said he was dumbstruck at the news that home condition reports would no longer be mandatory. He said: "the whole thing is wholly unnecessary. (The Government) Saying that there are not going to be enough home inspectors is completely wrong: 4,500 are already in training, and a further 3,000 chartered surveyors said that they would qualify to become home inspectors."

Home inspector training courses have proved popular, despite their cost of £6,000 to £10,000. Tim Weeks, a former antique dealer, paid £9,400 for training with course provider, Sava. He said: "I am disappointed that the Government has encouraged me and thousands of others to spend money on training only for them to resile at the 11th hour.

"I am considering suing the Government for misrepresentation. I feel that I was encouraged to get into debt to fund a re-training course with the promise that there would be guaranteed work at the end of it.

"The Government intervened in the housing market saying they were going to improve it. They have ended up behaving like some dodgy time-share salesmen, promising a villa and delivering a beach hut."

The National Association of Estate Agents was one of the few organisations that has welcomed the Government’s decision to conduct further trials before making the home condition report mandatory.

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