SMOKING will be allowed in food-free pubs after a bitter Cabinet dispute ended in a humiliating defeat for Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Private clubs, including workingmen's clubs, will also be exempt from a smoking ban, despite Ms Hewitt's known opposition to separate rules for members-only clubs.

The climbdown follows three days of confusion during which Cabinet members fought almost openly for their own policy on the issue.

The infighting ended in victory for Defence Secretary John Reid, who had opposed Ms Hewitt's tougher proposals to allow smoking in sealed-off rooms only.

Dr Reid - the former Health Secretary - had drawn up the original plans for a smoking ban in food-serving pubs only, which were then included in Labour's election manifesto.

Ms Hewitt issued a statement last night confirming the Health Improvement and Protection Bill would finally be published today - preserving smoking in non-food pubs.

She said: "I believe this Bill will be very widely welcomed as a major step forward in protecting people from second-hand smoke and improving the health of the nation."

The legislation is certain to face a rocky ride when it reaches the Commons, when Labour backbenchers are likely to try to amend it again.

The Department of Health's own research has shown a partial ban will widen the North-South health divide, because many pubs in poorer areas will stop serving food to save smoking.

Even before that, 64 per cent of pubs in Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency will escape a ban - way ahead of the predicted national average of ten to 20 per cent. And there will be high levels of exemptions in Darlington (55 per cent), Wear Valley (55 per cent) and Derwentside (38 per cent).

Deborah Arnott, director of anti-smoking group Ash, said: "Dr Reid's last-ditch defence of smoking in pubs and clubs has led to a ridiculous mess."

However, the continued exemption for workingmen's clubs will delight club officials in the North-East, who warned earlier this week of closures and job losses if a smoking ban was brought in.

The Bill will also introduce a smoking ban in all workplaces - except licensed premises - from 2007 and in all restaurants from a year later.

To save face, Ms Hewitt said her ditched proposals for sealed-smoking rooms would still form part of a fresh three-month consultation and promised a further review after three years.

Fiona Dunlop, director of Fresh, the campaign for a Smoke Free North-East, was appalled at the decision.

"I am really, really disappointed. I can't believe it, after all the effort that has gone into a total ban. We know there have been more than 60,000 responses to the public consultation and the overwhelming majority have been in favour of a complete ban. You have to ask, was it a real consultation?"

Under the new proposals just over 50 per cent of North-East pubs would be excluded from the ban, said Ms Dunlop, whose organisation is funded by North-East primary care trusts.

Iain Miller, of Smoke Free Derwentside, said: "This is going to lead to an increase in health inequalities. The people from the poorer sections of the community are going to bear the brunt, along with bar staff."