The phrase "a set back for" is correct and usable in written English.
It is typically used to describe a situation where progress is hindered or delayed, often in a negative context.
Example: "The unexpected storm was a set back for the construction project, pushing the timeline back by several weeks."
Alternatives: "a setback to" or "a hindrance to".
So this is certainly a set back for the shale publicity machine.
The call back of cars by Toyota is definitely a set back for the company but the company with proper humane touch would be able to come out with a solution to avoid such instances.
Kevin Mountford, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com, disagreed: "There is no doubt that this is a set back for the OFT and for the million or so customers who are trying to reclaim their bank charges.
Mr Krikalev, who attended the unveiling of a Gagarin statue outside the British Council offices in London yesterday, said that intelligent space probes and robotic explorers will never be as good as humans for many years to come and that to stop or curtail manned missions now would be a set back for space exploration.
But others argue the public intervention has tipped Shorten out of the probable stop Adani column into the "maybe, I'll get back to you after I've calmed down in about a decade" column – which in practical terms is a set back for the Stop Adani movement, which needs a party of government to take a stand.
The latest figures are a set back for Chancellor George Osborne, who in March pledged to cut the budget deficit by more than 10% over the next 12 months.
When Huyghens' waves-in-the-aether theory defeated Newton's particle theory of light, was that a set-back for materialism?
This was a set-back for Powell-Cotton, so keen to be the one to pull the trigger.
This is a set-back for anti-tobacco crusaders, who had hoped to give the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco, and to restrict tobacco firms' marketing tactics.
Buxton's red card was a set-back for McClaren's side and Schurrle ended their hopes of an upset.
It is a set-back for President Ghani who has promised to restore peace to the country.
