FOX-HUNTING with hounds - along with deer-hunting and hare-coursing with dogs - is to be banned in England and Wales from next February, after the Parliament Act was invoked to force through the Hunting Bill against the opposition of the House of Lords.
The Bill is now law after receiving Royal Assent with the traditional words "La Reyne le Veult" in the Lords..
And the death of the Waterloo Cup after 170 years will spell doom for up to 800 protected hares on the Altcar Estate where it is staged, it was claimed last night.
The National Coursing Club (NCC) said a ban would lead to more hares dying because they would be poached or fall prey to foxes.
But the claim was ridiculed by local Labour MP Colin Pickthall, who insisted hares would flourish at Altcar, near Formby, once the "barbaric activity" of coursing was outlawed.
Fox-hunting with hounds is to be banned then after the Parliament Act was invoked last night to force it through against the opposition of the House of Lords.
The passage of the fiercelycontested legislation is expected to trigger demonstrations and legal action from supporters of hunting, who plan to challenge the Bill on human rights grounds and question the legitimacy of the Parliament Act itself.
Peers maintained their stubborn resistence to a ban until the last moment last night, voting by 153-114 to retain regulated hunting.
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