Ministers ready to drop plans for gay adoption

Ministers are preparing to ditch proposals to allow unmarried and gay couples to adopt amid signs that the House of Lords will refuse to drop its opposition to the plans.

The Government will make one last attempt at pushing the changes through when the Adoption and Children Bill returns to the Commons today. If, as expected, the Lords again rejects the plans tomorrow night, senior Whitehall sources have made clear the issue might have to be abandoned to save the rest of the Bill.

Although frustrated by the Lords opposition, led by Tory peers but backed by crossbenchers, bishops and Labour rebels, ministers do not want to lose other proposals to make adoption easier for married couples and single people.

The Government will not table its own amendment today and will only support moves by backbenchers to extend adoption to unmarried couples.

Twenty-three Labour peers blocked such a change last month and the The Independent understands that even more Labour rebels are likely to join the Conservatives and crossbenchers tomorrow.

An overwhelming majority of the Commons backs gay and unmarried adoption, but with Parliament due to prorogue on Thursday, any prolonged "ping-pong" with the Lords will endanger the whole Bill.

While many gay rights campaigners will be upset by the Government's approach, ministers believe the issue could return as part of an equalities Bill that will also seek to abolish Section 28's ban on the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, and David Davis, who shadows John Prescott, made clear yesterday that the party would not change its three-line whip against adoption by gay couples.

Mr Duncan Smith said the key issue was that unmarried couples, whether gay or straight, were more likely to split up than married couples. Unmarried partners should marry if they were "serious" about adoption, he said.

Several modernising members of the Shadow Cabinet are expected to absent themselves from the vote tonight, with Tim Yeo, the shadow DTI Secretary, Damien Green, the shadow Education Secretary, and John Bercow, shadow Work and Pensions Minister, all likely not to turn up. Julie Kirkbride, Tory MP for Bromsgrove, Kenneth Clarke and Virginia Bottomley will also absent themselves.

Backbenchers such as Andrew MacKay, a former shadow Northern Ireland secretary, and Andrew Lansley, the former shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, are likely to vote with the Government.

The plight of hundreds of young people who spend their entire childhood waiting to be adopted, but about whom no inquiries are made, will be highlighted today in a final attempt to win support for reforms to the adoption laws.

The British Association for Adoption and Fostering will appeal for unmarried couples to be allowed to adopt by highlighting the number of children in care who are repeatedly overlooked.

Children with behavioural difficulties or physical disabilities, black children, and groups of brothers and sisters who end up in care because of cruelty or neglect are among the "unwanted" candidates.