The government this week ditched controversial plans to cap success fees paid to ‘no win, no fee’ lawyers in libel cases.

Commons leader Harriet Harman said the legislation, which would have reduced the fees charged by lawyers who won defamation cases taken on under conditional fee arrangements from 100% to 10%, was ‘not going anywhere’.

The order to bring in the change was expected to be put before the Commons on Tuesday, but as Harman outlined which legislation the government wanted to pass before parliament is dissolved, she said the Draft Conditional Fee Agreements (Amendment) Order would not be taken forward.

Last week, a Commons committee rejected the change. Lawyers have argued that it would prevent access to justice for many people who are defamed, as the cost of taking action would become prohibitively expensive.

Dominic Crossley, a partner at London firm Collyer Bristow, said it was an ‘enormous relief’ that the proposal, which had been ‘poorly thought through and rushed for political reasons’, had not succeeded.

Law Society president Robert Heslett said the MoJ needs to ‘return to the drawing board’ and listen to the concerns of the legal profession.

‘The Society has said that while there might be scope to reduce the fee from 100%, the matter would require far more detailed consultation,’ he added.