Labour MPs are preparing for a clash with ministers over the government's failure to ban fox-hunting.

As the government moves to press on with its legislative programme following the introduction of emergency anti-terror laws, Labour MPs are warning ministers that they cannot shelve plans to outlaw hunting with hounds.

Senior ministers have said, however, that there will not be enough parliamentary time to introduce a bill to ban hunting and legislate to reform the House of Lords.

The chief whip, Hilary Armstrong, is said to have angered Labour MPs by presenting the bills as an either/or option.

Armstrong is understood to believe that it would be better to delay plans to ban hunting and press on with the final stages of Lords reform.

However Labour backbenchers are angry at the government's failure to get the legislation onto the statute book and are demanding that the bill be introduced early in the new year.

Anti-hunt MPs are set for a meeting with Home Office ministers in January and say that they are "fairly confident" that the government will support their case.

Groups which support hunting have signalled that they will oppose any move to ban the sport - which they say could decimate the rural economy just as it begins to recover from the foot and mouth crisis.

In July's Queen's Speech the government signalled that it would give MPs a vote on hunting although it left the specifics loosely defined in order to leave open the possibility of shelving the plans.