Australia’s opposition leader has abandoned a major election promise to stop public servants working from home, after a backlash.

Peter Dutton apologised on Monday, saying his Liberal-led coalition had “made a mistake” with an unpopular policy that included plans to sack thousands of government employees.

Australians head to the polls on May 3, and working from home has emerged as an election battleground. The Liberal Party said last month it would boost productivity by ending flexible working for hundreds of thousands of public service workers.

Critics of the plan, including Anthony Albanese’s Labour government, said it would disproportionately disadvantage women and increase commuting costs at a time when the cost of living is the primary concern for most voters.

“We’ve made a mistake in relation to the policy. We apologise for that. And we’ve dealt with it,” Mr Dutton told Channel Nine, clarifying that no changes would be made to work-from-home options.

He claimed his centre-Right coalition was only planning to target public service workers in the capital of Canberra, accusing Labor of claiming otherwise as part of a “smear campaign”.