PRIME Minister Tony Blair has ordered an urgent review of safety rules which have led pools to ban parents from teaching their children to swim.

He branded the situation as "complete nonsense" in answer to a Commons question by Colne Valley Labour MP Kali Mountford.

Leisure bosses have been called in for talks.

Under new guidance - issued by the Institute for Sport and Recreation Management - parents whose youngsters are under four years old should only have one child at a time in the water with them.

There must also be one adult for every two children aged between four and eight.

There have been many reports in recent months of pool staff forcing parents to abandon lessons if they had more than the allowed number of youngsters.

Ms Mountford pointed out that just seven of the 300 annual deaths by drowning happened in swimming pools.

Single parents were particularly badly hit by the rules, she added.

"Will you make sure all our children get a chance to swim?" she asked.

Pressed by Ms Mountford to take action at question time, Mr Blair told MPs: "The current situation and the new guidelines have given rise to a complete nonsense because I think parents are perfectly well able to judge how they are best able to look after their children.

"I have therefore asked the Culture and Sport Secretary to bring in the Institute for Sport and Recreation Management and the Health and Safety Executive to see if we can't get this situation sorted out.

"I think it is causing quite unnecessary distress and concern to many parents in the country," the father of four added.

Ms Mountford said later: "We are all concerned about safety, but this is a ludicrous ruling which is cutting children's chances of swimming.

"I'm delighted to have the support of the Prime Minister and hope that now the ruling will be scrapped."

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said they would be looking into the nature of the guidance and how it was being implemented across the country.

It was important not to compromise safety but also to make sure children could learn to swim, he said.

A date for the meeting, where officials will seek "consensus on what is common sense", could be set in the very near future.