If the people of Manchester want a clear message from the Government on the fate of their now shelved Super Casino then it seems Communities Minister Hazel Blears is not the person to get it from.

The Labour MP from Salford left the future of Manchester's supercasino bid in a state of confusion after she refused to answer questions on the mecca's fate over the weekend.

Launching a low-pay campaign in her constituency, the point of the venture was clouded after she would not answer questions on the casino which was supposed to regenerate east Manchester.

At a cost of £100 million, the supercasino was meant to create 3,000 jobs in the area, but the House of Lords delayed the plans by not offering its support.

Although Ms Blears was asked to identify better ways of regenerating deprived urban areas of Manchester than building a casino, she seemed lost for words and ideas.

Launching a national minimum wage campaign at Somerfield supermarket in Withington, she could only explain that she was still working on a final decision as to the fate of Manchester's supercasino.

'What the prime minister asked for was to undertake a review of whether there are alternatives for regeneration other than the casino development. I have been working on that for the last few months, looking at all the evidence and I will forward the decision as quickly as possible,' she said.

The minister, who voted for the supercasino, was also unable to say when the review would be published, even though it is widely tipped to be released within weeks.

'I think a lot of people supported the supercasino at the time. Clearly there wasn't a majority in the Lords and the reason we took a look at this was because it wasn't possible to get it through before,' Ms Blears added.