LONDON (AFP) - Britain`s lower house of parliament, the House of Commons, voted to ban fox hunting, despite angry public protests inside and outside the chamber.
By 356 to 166 votes, the bill passed with a majority of 190 votes after debate was suspended briefly when five opponents of the ban burst into the chamber.
Speaker Michael Martin said he was "gravely concerned" about the protest incident and promised to report back to MPs after discussing security with the serjeant-at-arms.
The Commons has voted before for a total hunting ban, but opposition in the upper House of Lords, rooted deeply in the land-owning aristocracy, stalled legislation long enough for it to die on the order paper.
If it is blocked again, Prime Minister Tony Blair has vowed to employ the Parliament Act -- a rarely-used law allowing him to override the opinion of the upper house -- to get the ban on the law books.
The government has said any ban will not come into effect for two years, though that could be shortened to 18 months to please anti-hunt hardliners within the Labour Party.
The ban would apply in England and Wales, after Scotland`s autonomous parliament imposed a similar measure two years ago.