A ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales is almost certain to come into force despite having been again rejected by the House of Lords at Westminster.
The Lords tonight voted by 188 to 79, a majority of 109, in favour of a move to put a registered hunting scheme back in the Hunting Bill.
However, the Parliament Act is now almost certain to be invoked to force through the ban in England and Wales.
MPs last night voted in the House of Commons for an outright ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales.
They rejected a compromise supported by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to allow some fox hunting under licence.
However, if the upper house does not accept the ban, the government is likely to force it through under the rarely-used Parliament Acts.
Those Acts allow the government to seek Royal Assent for Bills which the House of Lords purports to veto for a second time.
Meanwhile, the Countryside Alliance, which opposes the ban, is to mount a challenge in the High Court to the validity of the 1949 Parliament Act.
There are also plans to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that a ban would unfairly deny people the right to trade.
