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A government announcement on the future of the proposed mental health bill is expected this week, communitycare.co.uk has learned.

It is widely rumoured that health minister Rosie Winterton will announce on Thursday that the bill will be delayed at the very least and amendments made to the existing Mental Health Act 1983 instead.

Sources have suggested the government will announce plans to look again at the bill, rather than abandon it entirely.

Opposition politicians and campaigners have predicted the bill will not be introduced this parliamentary session because of all the other contentious legislation in the pipeline

120 MPs have signed an early day motion opposing the bill, including 49 Labour MPs, more than enough to overturn the governments 65 majority if all signatures were turned into votes. The opposition parties have already come out against the bill.