The prime minister's unexpected decision to drop plans for a super-casino in the teeth of ferocious political and media opposition was last night applauded by an unlikely alliance of the Liberal Democrats, Salvation Army and Daily Mail.

But northern Labour MPs vowed to seek an urgent meeting with the prime minister in a last-ditch attempt to win a reprieve for the project that had been seen as a powerful weapon of regeneration in Manchester, the location recommended by the government's own advisory panel.