The Tories have shelved their "unworkable" Schools Bill only months after the long-awaited blueprint was unveiled.
In another major U-turn for the Government, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan revealed that the already watered-down legislation had now been ditched.
Rebel peers forced ministers to strip out key chunks of the bill in the summer after the Government was accused of a "power grab" by trying to dictate things like the curriculum, pupil welfare and the length of the school day in academies.
Ms Keegan told MPs that the legislation "will not progress" any further as parliamentary time was being saved for measures to tackle the economic crisis.
But Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said it was clear the Tories had "no idea" what to do about education and warned that more and more children were being left behind.
Ms Keegan, who is the fifth Education Secretary this year, said she was still "committed" to the objectives in the Bill but didn't give further details.
The legislation originally covered school funding, the regulation of academies, tackling truancy, the welfare of home-educated children and banning unsuitable teachers.
She told the Commons Education Committee: "Obviously, there's been a lot of things that we've had to focus on, and the need to provide economic stability and tackle the cost of living means that the parliamentary time has definitely been reprioritised on that.
"And we all know that we had to do that because of the pandemic aftershocks but also the war in Ukraine and we've needed to support families.
"However, we do remain committed to the objectives, the very many important objectives that underpinned the Bill, and we will be prioritising some aspects of the Bill as well to see what we can do."
She said that many of the ambitions set out in the Schools White Paper, published in March under Boris Johnson, could be implemented without legislation.
She said that a register of children not in school was "definitely a priority" along with protections for faith schools joining multi-academy trusts.
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “It couldn’t be clearer that the Conservatives have no idea how to improve education and drive high standards for our children.
"They hailed this Bill as a priority now they’ve binned it.
“The attainment gap is widening, school buildings are crumbling, more and more children are being left without a qualified teacher, and the Conservatives have no plan."
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: "From the moment the Schools Bill was published it was clear it wasn't going to be workable.
"It was inevitable the Government would eventually have to scrap it, and we are pleased to see it won't go ahead in its current form."
He said it was "frustrating" that so much time had been spent dealing with the flawed bill and said the move reflects "the chaos of Government over the last 12 months".
Julie McCulloch, Director of Policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said the bill was "poorly written and problematic" and welcomed its demise.
She added: "There are also many proposals in the Schools White Paper which were not included in the Bill but which appear to be in limbo because of the multiple ministerial changes since it was published.
"This includes proposals around a longer school week and the ‘parent pledge’. It is not helpful that schools do not know whether or not these are being progressed."
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said the legislation had been "widely discredited" and it was a "relief" the Bill had been scrapped.
"Now that it has dropped the Schools Bill, Government has the opportunity to focus on the actual priorities and the real challenges around modernising assessment, identifying funding and addressing teacher retention," he added.
