A group will be set up to explore ways to prevent young people dying from heart problems after pressure from a North-East MP.

Public Health Minister Melanie Johnson announced the move to tackle so-called sudden cardiac death and improve services for people with irregular heartbeats.

It came in response to a back bench Bill sponsored by Dari Taylor, Labour MP for Stockton South, who won the support of sports stars and celebrities for her campaign.

Four people a week in the UK, often young and fit individuals, die from previously undiagnosed heart condition.

Yesterday, Mrs Taylor said she would withdraw the Bill after an offer from the Government to set up an advisory group to help tackle the condition and improve services for people with irregular heartbeats.

Ms Johnson said the advisory group, to be headed by the National Clinical Director for Heart Disease, Dr Roger Boyle, would raise awareness of the conditions and advise the Health Department on policy.

It could also lead to advice being given to doctors.

An estimated 400 apparently healthy young people die each year from sudden adult cardiac death syndrome, and a further 700,000 people in the UK suffer from disturbances in the heart’s rhythm.

The condition, arrhythmia, can result in anything from minor health problems to death.

The announcement came during a debate on the Cardiac Risk in the Young (Screening) Bill, opened by Mrs Taylor.

It aimed to ensure anyone showing symptoms of some cardiac diseases, or those who had a family history of them, would be referred to a specialist, and would have introduced screening for relatives of anyone under 35, who died of such conditions.

Mrs Taylor took up the cause after the death of a friend’s son two years ago, at the age of 22.

She said: “This announcement will help prevent such deaths, and I am delighted that the Government has taken this terrible condition seriously.”

Symptoms a patient with arrhythmia might experience include palpitations, dizziness and blackouts, or may occur only in sudden adult death.