A Bill on banning foxhunting is to be introduced later this week, thisisyork can reveal today.

Home Secretary Jack Straw is set to table the legislation for its First Reading in the Commons on Friday.

MPs are almost certain to debate the bill at Second Reading stage before the Christmas recess.

They will be given a free vote on an outright ban, statutory licensing of hunts, or the existing voluntary regulations.

Hugh Bayley, York MP and Social Security Minister, welcomed the decision to press ahead with the legislation within days of it being announced in the Queen's Speech today.

He said: "I have always been against foxhunting and I'm glad that the Government is giving this issue the priority it deserves.''

The Government wants to make foxhunting a General Election issue.

It has timetabled the bill so it is likely to be blocked in the Lords in the spring when the election is expected to be held.

Ministers believe the spectacle of unelected peers, many of them Conservatives, defying the Commons over a fox-hunting ban will stir apathetic Labour supporters into voting.