A potentially explosive clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords now looks inevitable after peers voted by a significant majority to allow hunting to continue under a system of strict licencing.

Peers swapped their support from the status quo to the compromise "middle way" option in a bid to save hunting from extinction following Monday's overwhelming Commons vote for a ban.

Peers voted by 366 to 59 in favour of the compromise position and warned that an outright ban could set the government at war with the countryside.

MPs, however, are insisting that the matter is now an issue of trust in the government and are calling on ministers to legislate for a total ban on hunting with hounds in England and Wales.