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The Government has today axed the vote to water down the ban on fox hunting to avoid an embarrassing House of Commons defeat.

In an attempt to sneak hunting in by the back door, David Cameron planned to rush through a vote on relaxing the rules on hunting with dogs.

But in the face of overwhelming pressure from the public, and with SNP MPs pledging to vote down the amendment, the government were forced into a humiliating climbdown, cancelling the vote altogether.

The SNP's 56 MPs agreed yesterday to break with their normal practice of not voting on England-only matters and join Labour in opposing the proposal.

Together with nearly all Labour MPs and a number of anti-hunting Conservative MPs, who have been granted a free vote on the issue, this was expected to be enough to block the change.

However, it's thought the Government will try to reintroduce the vote in the autumn after rules have been introduced to prevent Scottish MPs to vote on England-only matters.

Downing Street left no doubt that it was the SNP decision which prompted the delay in the hunting vote.

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A source said: "This happened because Nicola Sturgeon has done a 180-degree u-turn. Her actions speak for themselves. That's why we are in the position we are in."

Labour's Maria Eagle slammed the government's handling of the vote as shambolic.

She said: “David Cameron is now running scared because he knew he was going to lose the vote on fox hunting. The Government’s proposed changes to the Hunting Act have become a shambles.

"This has nothing to do with ‘pest control’ - it is a shabby attempt to repeal a successful piece of animal welfare legislation by the back-door.”

Number 10 had previously indicated that Prime Minister David Cameron intended to vote in favour of the reform.

News of the retreat broke as scores of campaigners were descending on Westminster to urge MPs to vote against the plan - follow our live blog of the event here.

High-profile animal welfare activists including Queen guitarist Brian May were joining the "Team Fox" coalition of animal welfare groups, including Animal Defenders International, to urge MPs to keep the ban intact.

Celebrities including Ricky Gervais, Morrissey, Sadie Frost and Stella McCartney have joined the campaign against the proposed change.

A ComRes poll for BBC2's Victoria Derbyshire programme found that 74% of voters were opposed to legalising fox-hunting, against 20% who supported it.

This morning Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC she'd never seen anything like the public show of support for the ban.

She said: "I can't think of another issue where I've had more communication and it's unprecedented for so much of that to come from England."

SNP MPs were set to break their convention of abstaining on votes that only affect England and Wales.

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Ms Sturgeon said she wanted to send a message to David Cameron that he could no longer ignore the mandate of Scottish MPs.

But the SNP decision drew an angry response from Conservative MPs and is likely to lead to demands for ministers to press on with EVEL, as more power was devolved to the Scottish Parliament in the wake of last year's referendum vote.

Senior Tory backbencher Sir Peter Bottomley said: "The Scottish National Party risk making themselves look foolish, unprincipled and unwise by voting against making English law similar to Scottish law.

"This action is naive - it makes them look silly and is perhaps the first major mis-step by Nicola Sturgeon."

A Conservative source said: "Hunting is a devolved issue. The SNP's decision to vote on a draft law that does not affect Scotland at all shows exactly why Conservatives committed in our manifesto to ensure laws that only affect England can only be passed with the consent of English MPs."

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for South East England, said: “The Tory Government's postponement of this vote is a cynical manipulation of our democracy, when they are simply scared of losing the vote.

"Foxhunting is needless and causes tremendous suffering. The Hunting Act should be strengthened, not weakened."