THE Lords voted by more than two to one last night against a ban on foxhunting, in the so-called “kamikaze option” that will cause the Government maximum difficulty.

The Parliament Act will now almost certainly be invoked in the House of Commons to force through the Hunting Bill. By a majority of 188 to 79, the Lords backed a move to replace a ban with a system of registered hunting, which they knew to be a lost cause.

They also voted 155 to 119 against a government amendment, proposed by Lord Whitty, to delay any ban for 18 months. This vote raises the prospect of a ban on foxhunting in effect as soon as February, although this could be delayed by legal challenges.

This would give hunts little time to adjust and it is close to the expected general election.

The regulations in the Parliament Act enable legislation to pass into law if it has been rejected by the Lords in two successive parliamentary sessions — but it can be used only on the original legislation, which in this case states that the ban will take place in three months.

Instead of voting for the Government’s 18-month delay, peers reinserted a three-year implementation process, backing that by 176 votes to 85.

The changes were also intended further to embarrass Tony Blair after he said a compromise was “in the interest of the country” but was ignored by much of his party, including six Cabinet members and 50 other ministers, on Tuesday.

Lord Whitty appealed in vain for peers to back down and halt the row, which has rumbled on at Westminster for seven years. With one day of the session remaining, time is running out for the pro-hunt lobby. Lord Whitty said that MPs would not accept peers’ plans for registered hunting which included deer hunting and hare coursing: “However justifiable your position, we are now in a position where your lordships have thrown out the baby with the bathwater and are in a directly confrontational situation.”

Lady Mallalieu, the Labour peer who is preident of the Countryside Alliance, called on the Lords to reimpose a registration system. “The criminalisation of a minority by an elected majority for no compelling reason is an abuse of democracy,” she said.

Lord Livsey of Talgarth (Lib Dem) said: “A ban will result in the decimation of the fox population by shooting.” But Lord Hoyle (Lab) said: “This is not about hunting any more, it is about the constitution . . . The way we have behaved will bring about the reform of this House sooner rather than later.”

Despite the large Commons majority in favour of a total ban on Tuesday, the Lords wanted to make its point by sending back a Bill preserving hunting for pest control and animal management.

Lord Donoughue, the pro-hunting Labour peer, told The Times: “When you know you cannot win, the only option is to do what you think is right. So what that leaves here is what we believe to be right. We have prepared a Bill that, in other circumstances, a rational Government starting from scratch and saying that it wants to deal with hunting in an animal welfare context would have ended up with. The Commons may choose to ignore that because of their simple gut prejudice.”

Michael Martin, the Speaker, is expected to send the Hunting Bill agreed by MPs — a total ban on hunting with hounds — for Royal Assent under the Parliament Act. Yesterday in the Commons, Iain Duncan Smith (C, Chingford and Woodford Green) asked him to consider that government figures had not voted for a total ban. Raising a point of order, the former Tory leader said: “When it comes time for you to make the decision about the application of the Parliament Act, will you take into consideration the position of the Prime Minister and leading members of his Cabinet in voting against that which the Parliament Act wishes to impose on Parliament?”

Mr Martin replied: “The House makes these decisions and the House passed the Act and the Act in a sense gives me certain instructions. It would be wrong of me to listen to the Prime Minister or anyone else on this matter.”

• The sound of baying and the pungent smell of dogs may seem timeless features of the English countryside, but Malcolm Scobie, 37, senses the fragility of that scene. For the huntsman at the Avon Vale’s kennels at Spye Park, in Wiltshire, there has been no other life since leaving school at 16. The full-time employee of the hunt, which has chased foxes since 1888, knows that his job is likely to disappear. He says: “If a challenge to the use of the Parliament Act is not successful, there is nothing in this country for me. They won’t just be taking away my job — it’s a way of life.”

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