Peers voted by 322 votes to 72 for an amendment to reinstate the "Middle Way" compromise rejected by MPs last year and allow some hunting under licence.

The Commons have already voted to ban fox hunting and the government could eventually use the Parliament Act to force the measure onto the statute books.

And in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Labour MP Tony Banks said that anything less than an outright ban would be unacceptable.

Should hunting with dogs be banned? Can a compromise be reached? What would you like to see happen? Send us your views on the post form.

This debate is now closed. Read your comments below.

The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:

People should be free to do what they like Howard, Sheffield, England

It shouldn't matter what other people who aren't affected by hunting think. We live in a liberal democracy - people should be free to do what they like, especially on their own land. Other methods of controlling the fox population will mean more suffering to the animals. What are people actually against - the fact that over hundreds of years the countryside community has developed the problem of pest control into a mutually beneficially tradition? A tradition that happens to provide a lot of jobs?
Howard, Sheffield, England

It does make me wonder if hunting is purely to control "vermin", how do the areas of the UK without hunting cope with them? Hunting is purely a way for sad, out of touch relics to get their jollies. This has nothing to do with freedom, it is a very few sad individuals trying to protect an immoral livelihood.
Graham, Scotland

Pro-hunters have many reasons for being against a ban, none of which have any credibility whatsoever. Conservation of the countryside? Let us not conserve the countryside if this is what it takes. Country people involved in hunting losing their jobs? Many people are made redundant every year, which is unfortunate, but I can think of no single group more deserving of redundancy than those involved in this terrible sport. End it now.
Roger Yates, Wales

Another 'let's get the rich' fight Julie, Sussex, UK

I don't think hunting should be banned. Most people seem to think that people who hunt are blood thirsty but the majority of followers are nowhere near the fox if/when it is caught. Another 'let's get the rich' fight. There are far more important things this Government should be getting on with!
Julie, Sussex, UK

If you people can only survive on this evil sport then I pity you. Your lives must be so boring and mundane that you call this a living.
Daniel, United Kingdom

How dare we feel outrage over cockfighting in the Philippines, bull fighting in Spain or bear baiting in Pakistan while we allow this abomination in out own back yard?
Dr Reece Walker, London UK

If hunting is to be banned, then impose a ban in public places, but on private land the issue should not arise. In the event of a hunt on private land with saboteurs, who do the police arrest, the trespassers or the hunters?
Kevin Rowen, England

It should be banned outright. It serves no purpose. Why don't they try drag hunting?
Jayne, UK

Hunting involves hundreds of jobs. By banning it the tax payer can expect to see a lot more people on the dole - which we will have to pay for. This ban is the beginning of the end for the countryside.
Jo, UK

The argument that the countryside somehow needs foxhunting to sustain itself is utter nonsense Matt, Devon

I wish hunt supporters would stop saying country folk support foxhunting. Myself and a lot of other country people don't actually support foxhunting, and the argument that the countryside somehow needs foxhunting to sustain itself is utter nonsense.
Matt, Devon

Control the population of foxes if needs be, but don't turn it into some bloodthirsty party and call it sport. That is pretty sick. As for jobs lost, tough, times change, move on, retrain. I got laid off seven times in the eighties. Nobody offered me anything in the way of sympathy or support. I had to get off my backside and find another job. Simple.
Brendan MacLean, Birmingham, UK

A ban won't stop me hunting! The government is finally starting to realise that they have awoke a sleeping giant and they don't like what they see.
Dawn, England

Pardon the intrusion of a non-Briton, but it seems to me at least that your "progressives" over there mark the amount of progress by the number of things they can ban. How much freedom are you going to lose in the name of public safety or animal rights before you say enough is enough?
Zach Smith, Bloomington, IN, USA

The country way of life is not under threat by this ban Wendy, UK

This is such bilge. The country way of life is not under threat by this ban! I mean, let's be honest - how many country people actually hunt? Very, very few. Those that care about the country 'way of life' should target the government about poor infrastructure, big business sucking the life out of it and few jobs.
Wendy, UK

I live in the middle of a big city. I sometimes see a fox crossing over the road near me to get to the woods behind my house. It is a wonderful animal to see, very beautiful, and rare for someone like me in a city. How someone can destroy an animal like that for fun is beyond me.
Lesley, UK

Hunting with dogs should not be banned. The Government's independent reports do not recommend a ban because alternative methods of control cause considerably more suffering to the fox. The fox is a wild animal and a pest and must be controlled in the country and cannot be allowed to colonise the country as it now appears to have in some of our towns. If a ban is introduced it will be seen by law abiding country people that the urban majority do not understand the arguments and that their way of life is under threat. If you ignore all the independent advice and the views of so many country people the only alternative is to carry on regardless. Make no mistake any ban will be unenforcable due to the scale of dissent and also the local police and justice systems will not be able to cope with the massive open resistance to a ban.
Jon Jonik, England

Find another hobby/sport which doesn't involve ripping something to pieces Nick, UK

How can any "civilised" person think this is ok? I understand that in the country side fox populations can cause a problem and need to be regulated. But chasing them to exhaustion and then watching them being ripped to pieces? (Something which is never showed on the news coverage) this is not sport or humane. On a biological level (ie intelligence, the ability to feel pain) what is the difference between a fox and your pet dog. If lord wotshisname's pet poodle got used by a group of people for a "sport" in which it got hunted down and ripped to pieces there would be a national outrage and calls to lynch the perpetrators. Find another way to control fox populations and find another hobby/sport which doesn't involve ripping something to pieces.
Nick, UK

Over 400,000 people joined a protest demonstration on the hunting issue - one of the biggest protest marches ever. According to opinion surveys 59% of people do not favour a ban. And this is a government that claims to listen? I sincerely hope that when they do hear they get the message right.
John, England

Call me controversial, but given the rising crime rates, the poor state of the NHS, the war in Iraq and the confusion over new European legislation, surely hunting foxes must rank much lower on any sensible list of legislative priorities? Given that the only people that seem to want to ban hunting are urban people who view the country as something quaint to visit occasionally, they should just leave the issue alone and allow hunting to continue under licence. This seems to be the only way that this issue can be laid to rest and allow Westminster to get on with something more useful.
Craig Barrett, UK

You can always tell if someone has a weak argument for not doing something when they say :- a) There are more important issues b) You are only doing this because of my race/class/gender etc. I would love to hear an argument from the fox hunting lobby that does not rely on those 2 arguments.
David, London, UK

The Government established the independent Burns Inquiry to investigate whether hunting should continue using the tests of utility and cruelty. The Inquiry found no grounds for banning hunting with dogs. This is not an animal welfare issue.
Kate, Swindon

I live in Devon and have done for all my life. I'm fed up of hunt supporters saying that its people who live in cities not understanding the countryside. I live there and many people in the countryside do not agree with grown men and women getting enjoyment of getting dogs to rip foxes apart.
Mark, Devon, England

There are hundreds of other animal rights issues that are far more serious than this Keith L, England

Animal rights issue? Well maybe but there are hundreds of other animal rights issues that are far more serious than this, involving methods of farming and to do with religious animal slaughter, some of which is done by the book but a great deal is not, but there is no bill to ban these.
KeithL, England

According to the comments here, the majority want it banned, and the majority don't want it banned. Perhaps we should have a referendum on this subject so that we can find out which 'majority' is real, and which one is PR. However, at a guess, I would imagine the true majority will be the don't care category.
Paul Halfpenny, UK

Hunting should not be banned, I am totally in support of a "middle "way" compromise. Surely MPs have more important topics to worry about. We are becoming such a pathetic nation that we care more about vermin than we do about people. It is time we concentrated on real matters.
Sally Megginson, Yorkshire

I live in a rural area and have seen first hand how the countryside has suffered with foot and mouth etc. Why can't the government leave the countryside alone of if it has to interfere why doesn't it look at provision of necessary services like transport and housing?
Sonia, UK

I'm sure any fox will be happy to know that at least it was ripped apart following a licensed hunt.
Dave J, UK

It should definitely be banned! Why is it that blood sports such as bear and badger baiting, and cock fighting have been banned? Is it because those were all sports for the working classes? Incidentally, I've been brought up in the country - not all of us want animals torn pieces for fun!
Elaine, UK

I will think seriously about this issue only when we have all of the problems in the Police, hospitals, education, etc. resolved. Irrespective of your point of view, this issue wastes valuable parliamentary time that would be better spent improving human lives.
Mike W, UK

Fox hunting is a crucial part of country life. A necessity for farmers in the absence of a humane alternative, as well as a part of British heritage. Anyone who has any knowledge of farming knows that foxes are a pest that need to be controlled.
Adele, Wales

Anglers watch out..you are next!! Pollik, UK

Most people in the country don't support a ban. I thought the House of Commons was supposed to represent the views of the electorate, but it looks like I am wrong. Anglers watch out..you are next!!
Pollik, UK

What next? Fishing? Horse racing? Have you got nothing better to do? None of this affects those in the city and you will all be moaning about something else soon. Surely there are issues closer to home which you should concentrate on...gun crime, rape and under age drinking? Or is that not important? Get your priorities right!!!
Tim, UK

No, it should not be banned. The government should spend time and money on important issues that directly affect people, not ones that the majority have no feelings about one way or the other!
Mary Pettifor, England

Such a law would be very expensive to enforce. I, for one, am not prepared to see my taxes go to that purpose, even if I find blood sports repugnant.
Graham, UK

I see far more trouble caused at football matches than when I am out hunting. I don't think the England supporters can even visit another country without severely injuring at least a dozen police/home fans. Why persecute an innocent, law abiding minority in the face of all the evidence? There are plenty of things I don't agree with that goes on in towns and cities but I don't think the answer is to ban them.
Sally Lowe, UK

If culling foxes is necessary find a better way to do it Anonymous

I grew up in a city and thought that hunting was very wrong. I now live in Cornwall and know many people who live on farms where foxes are a genuine threat to their animals. However, I do not think that dogs tearing foxes apart is an enjoyable way to spend the day and the notion of it being a sport of some kind is laughable. If culling foxes is necessary find a better way to do it.
Anonymous

You either kill animals for fun or you don't. Where is the compromise?
Simon, UK

Who else is bored by this ongoing Government PR exercise? I predict we'll be expected to heap praise on the Government when they have a fight with the Lords over this. Hunting with dogs is demonstrably cruel and inefficient, by the way.
Paul Madley, Manchester

We've discussed this already.... five times! And the majority said NO, five times. Is this like European referenda? Keep asking the same question until the "right" answer is given?
Anonymous

Hunting with dogs is quite wrong and there should be no compromise Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, The Netherlands

Surely, the proposed plan to allow some hunting by license is a cop out. Hunting with dogs is quite wrong and there should be no compromise. It was Oscar Wilde who described fox hunters as "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable". Quite so.
Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, The Netherlands

There isn't very much of any importance that the British government can legislate on and try and look as if they deserve their salaries. So they chuck old men out of the House of Lords after 1000 years and try to decide what a pack of dogs may or may not do. Maybe the EU will allow them to legislate on the width of trouser bottoms? Who knows, or cares?
David, UK

Just because something is "Traditional", it doesn't make it acceptable. Hunting with dogs is barbaric as was bear-baiting and public executions. The sooner the "custodians of the countryside" as they perceive themselves realise this, the better. They do not own the countryside, they are merely privileged enough to live there, in some cases with the benefit of subsidies from the tax-payer.
Tony, UK

There must be some way of reconciling this with the need to keep foxes out of farms Keith, UK

The majority of people find it unpalatable or even morally offensive for a minority to delight in bringing about the violent death of an animal. There must be some way of reconciling this with the need to keep foxes out of farms, but it seems to me that this simple point has been lost in what has become a deeply undignified debate.
Keith, UK

I'm tired of people saying that politicians should have better things to discuss than fox hunting. We need to identify if we individually agree with it morally or not. Personally I have nothing against it in moral terms and would not like to see it banned.
Daniel, UK

Of course hunting with dogs should be banned. This barbaric practice is unworthy of the name "sport". Future generations will undoubtedly be astonished that we're even discussing condoning this barbarism in 2004.
Chris Peterson, UK

It really is disgusting that so much parliamentary time is being taken up on this subject just to appease the class warriors on Labour's backbenches. Just let the Lords amendment go through and let's get on with more important issues.
David, England

Blair made an election promise that it would be banned so what are we still talking about? Nick, Reading, UK

Why are we still discussing this? The majority of the public have made it clear they want it banned and Blair made an election promise that it would be banned so what are we still talking about? We don't want a compromise or a 'middle way' we want it banned outright. Just for once Mr Blair, why don't you stick to your promises and stop pandering to the minorities?
Nick, Reading, UK

Those claiming that there are more important issues for Parliamentary debate should hope hunting is banned once and for all. This issue has taken up too much Parliamentary time in the past, and will in the future until hunting is banned.
Kerry, London, England

Of course it should be banned. Killing animals for fun has no place in a so-called civilised society.
Daz, UK

Hunting with hounds is not a civil liberties issue, but an animal rights one. By travelling down this middle path it puts the law into a grey area. Either hunting with foxes is cruel and should be banned, or it is a good way to control the fox population and should remain. The danger is putting the law in between just deferring not solving the problem.
Chris, England

Hasn't the British Government got better things to do than concentrate on what they perceive as being a vote winner? It makes me blood boil...and the politicians cannot figure out why they have lost the trust and respect of the public.
Richard, UK