Abolition of taper relief - will there be a U-turn?

Given the outcry about the proposed changes to capital gains tax taper relief, don't be surprised if the Government performs a U-turn in next year's Budget.

Here are my predictions:

1. They may decide to 'phase in' the abolition of the relief, in order to take some of the sting away. Maybe by tinkering with the rates somewhat. You can trust this Government to make things more complicated than they need to be.
2. They may decide to exclude certain assets from the 18 per cent rate. I'm thinking of things that would currently qualify as 'non-business assets' under the taper relief rules. Things like second homes, shares held for investment purposes, etc. They may decide that these should continue to be taxed at their current (higher) rates.
3. Instead of (2) above, they may create a 'special exemption' from the 18 per cent rate for assets that currently qualify as 'business assets' for taper relief purposes. Those can continue to be taxed at the current effective rate for higher rate taxpayers of 10 per cent. There will, of course, be stringent conditions to be met before an asset can take advantage of the special exemption.
4. Or they can just quietly shelve the whole abolition of taper relief thing, and pretend it never happened. This should be the easiest way out. Of course there would be taunting and jeering from the Opposition benches, but if the Government is brave enough to weather that (which I doubt), then this would be the best thing all round for everybody. Don't bank on it, though.