Riding for a while longer?

Government sources say the parliamentary calendar is already so crammed with Labour's legislative programme, that the bill might fall by the wayside.

However, the same sources firmly rejected suggestions that the bill was automatically doomed, saying they would deal with the matter "one step at a time".

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has promised a free vote on the issue and said he would vote in favour of a ban. Labour's enormous majority in the House means the measure would almost certainly become law.

But a senior Government source is reported as saying that there could be no guarantee to find the necessary time to discuss the bill.

And pro-hunting MPs are expected to use "every trick" in the Parliamentary procedural book against the bill.

Tory MP Peter Atkinson warns every trick in the book will be used to scupper the anti-hunting bill.

Tory MP Peter Atkinson told BBC Radio 4's World at One that there would be a large campaign to frustrate it through the Parliamentary process.

He raised the prospect of filibustering - where MPs make extended speeches in debates in a bid to talk beyond the allotted time and delay a vote on the bill.

Michael Foster: Fox hunting "akin to bear-baiting"

Mr Foster insists that his bill is not a town-versus-country row, but a simple moral question about cruelty against animals. He sees hunting with dogs as "a cruel and barbaric practice" which should be ended, and says it is comparable to cock-fighting, bear-baiting and dog-fighting.

On Thursday an estimated 100,000 people had gathered in London's Hyde Park to protest against the proposed ban on hunting with dogs. Opponents of the ban say it threatens the rural way of life and could destroy thousands of jobs.