PLANS for Manchester's supercasino may be thrown out by MPs and peers this week after a Tory U-turn.

Wednesday's vote in the Commons on all 17 new casinos - including a Las Vegas style gambling mecca in east Manchester - could end in a crushing defeat for the government.

Already, more than 80 Labour MPs have said they prefer Blackpool. They and many peers want the whole issue reconsidered.

Shadow chancellor and Tatton MP George Osborne - official Tory spokesman for Manchester - had persuaded his colleagues to back the city's £265m proposals.

But now Conservative leader David Cameron - who was visiting Greater Manchester today - has ordered his MPs to vote against the government on Wednesday, potentially plunging the vote into chaos.

The Manchester bid is to site a supercasino in Beswick near the City of Manchester Stadium, claiming it would create 2,700 direct jobs.

Its success took many by surprise, after Blackpool had been the hot favourite.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has decided she did not want to reopen the choice of Manchester, Blackpool or London's Dome.

Vote

Instead, she decided to have an `all or nothing' vote before MPs rise for their Easter holidays later this week.

Mr Cameron, who was in Bolton and Sale today, told Ms Jowell that if she goes ahead with a single vote on all the casinos his party would vote against.

He wants the Manchester decision to be reviewed by a cross party committee. An angry Sports Minister Dick Caborn today blamed a `major Tory U-turn' for the problems.

He said they would be responsible if the government failed to win enough votes.

MPs will spend up to three hours debating the issue.

It should then go to the Lords before parliament rises.

Michael Jack, Tory MP for Fylde, predicts the vote will be tight in the Commons since more than 100 MPs have signed a protest motion. Even if the order scrapes through the Commons it faces a rough ride in the Lords.

Lord Davis of Oldham, government Deputy Chief Whip, is expecting a `lively debate'.

Decision

Hugo Swire, Conservative Culture Spokesman, who initially welcomed the Manchester decision, said Ms Jowell was in a `mess of the government's own making' and said his party would not help her defeat Labour rebels.

The Tory U-turn follows new evidence from a Lords committee which suggested that the choice of Manchester, by an independent casino panel, may have been flawed.

The Lords claimed that the panel had failed to take into account that 20 per cent of the population of Manchester was getting income support and that the new casino could attract poor families.

Church leaders have already registered their objections.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott said: "The report proves that the cards were marked, the dice loaded and the roulette wheel rigged against Blackpool."

Manchester MPs believe that if the Conservatives do put a three-line whip on the vote, it could actually minimise the number of Labour rebels.

Graham Stringer, Labour MP for Manchester Blackley, said: "If the Tories want to make this a Tory-versus-Labour vote, and an anti-Manchester vote, then I would expect all Labour colleagues to support the government."