The row over the future of hunting is set to continue in the House of Lords.

Peers are set to consider the latest stage of the bill which will outlaw the sport.

The second reading will consider the ban imposed on fox hunting by MPs and it is likely that peers will overturn the Commons vote during its committee stage in October.

Government business organisers are now faced with difficulties in trying to get the Hunting Bill onto the statute book before the Queen's Speech.

The issue has been on the political agenda since Labour came to power in 1997 and ministers are coming under pressure from backbench MPs to settle the issue once and for all.

Labour MPs campaigning against hunting are urging the government to use the Parliament Act to force through a ban.

Rural affairs minister Alun Michael, who has tried to find a compromise between both sides, said the final decision would rest with MPs.

"The use of the Parliament Act is a matter for the House of Commons, not the government. What the House of Lords should do is engage with the Bill that comes before them," he said.

"I believe that there will be legislation by the next general election, but its form will depend on the way in which the Lords respond and the Commons' response to any changes the Lords make."

Pro-hunting groups have signalled they will mount a legal challenge against any ban.

"Although the Hunting Bill as originally drafted was far from perfect, the recent amendments intended to bring about a complete ban are a cause of considerable concern," said Sir Edward Greenwell of the Country Land and Business Association.

"Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the government's position is the apparent indifference to the benefits that land owners who follow country sports bring to the countryside.''

But animal welfare groups claimed there was a wider public sentiment against hunting and questioned whether the House of Lords had a mandate to challenge the bill.

"If the Lords acts as it has done in the past and continues to defy the will of the Commons on this issue, they do so in the face of public opinion polls that repeatedly show the majority of the British public is in favour of banning hunting with dogs, with 80 per cent calling the activity cruel," said John Rolls, RSPCA.

"The public wants the government to push ahead with a ban, regardless of the outcome in the unelected House of Lords.''