The flak is beginning to fly on home information packs - and they are still a year away from implementation.

My prediction is that the issue will be the Government's next big banana skin.

The packs will do nothing to sort out the housing market and everything to turn home owners off voting Labour.

Mark my words.

Luckily for the Government there is a huge split out there, as witnessed by this week's various pronouncements.

We have campaign group Splinta - Sellers Pack Law Is Not The Answer - on one side and the Consumers Association on the other.

For anybody holidaying off the planet for the last year or so, the packs are being introduced in June next year in a bid to reduce the near £1 million a day the Government estimates is wasted as a result of sales falling through at a late stage.

They will contain title deeds, local authority searches and a home condition report, and it is estimated they will cost an average of £635 each, rising to £1,000 for certain properties and locations. However, Splinta says HIPs will have no effect in the majority of cases where a transaction collapses.

The group, which analysed 1,870 property transactions set up during February, said in only a minority of cases could a sale have been saved by one of the packs. But the Consumers' Association says their introduction is going to make buying property easier and quicker, while saving people money.

The most sensible contribution though has come from Midlands law firm Wright Hassell. It and others have pointed out that while more than 2,000 people are training to become home inspectors this is way short of the 7,500 needed for the task.

Chris Meredith, head of conveyancing, noted: "There are certainly more dissenting voices as time goes on.

"Several leading property firms are against large parts of the scheme and even the Council of Mortgage Lenders has not agreed to accept surveys which are home condition reports from the sellers - one of the cornerstones of the new legislation.

"That is casting considerable doubt on the start date and even on the new measures in their entirety."

The whole sorry affair was raised in the Commons by my old mate, now Tory MP, Michael Gove.

We both got sacked, along with about 100 others, in the great Aberdeen Journals newspaper strike of 1989.

I don't suppose he cares to remember, nevertheless he is a good lad. Anyway, he pointed out all the flaws and demanded a proper "dry run" for the HIP scheme.

Which you might think was reasonable. To which the Government seems to have only one response.

It accused Mr Gove of being an advocate for those in the industry who opposed the packs because they made money out of the current system and warned him against becoming "the parliamentary spokesperson for the National Association of Estate Agents" - the Warwick-based organisation doesn't like HIPs either.

Wait until we see the panic in the Government's eyes come next spring when all is going wrong.

It's another loser, Tony.