The leader of the Commons has hit out at the House of Lords for blocking legislation banning fox hunting.

On the weekend that the British hunt season began, Peter Hain said peers could force the government to use the Parliament Act to force the law through.

Speaking on Sunday Hain said the Lords had "flagrantly abused" their power in defeating the Hunting Bill last week.

MPs had overwhelmingly supported a complete ban on hunting with hounds in England and Wales but saw the bill beaten and run out of time in the upper house.

"We have seen the most flagrant abuse of the House of Lords' power to destroy a bill, massively voted for in the House of Commons, successively endorsed in our general election manifestos," Hain told Sky News.

"That is the real choice here. Can we continue to allow the House of Lords to defy the House of Commons and the will of the people who voted this Labour government in with a mandate to ban cruelty to animals?

"We will have to find a way of ensuring that a ban on cruelty to animals, which was what the House of Commons voted for overwhelmingly and what the people supported in two general elections, is implemented.

"The House of Lords cannot continue to stand in the way of that because otherwise it is an abuse of democracy."

However Hain did not say whether any new legislation would involve a total ban on hunting.

The government had originally put forward a bill proposing a partial ban but saw this beefed up by MPs on a free vote earlier in the year.