Bullfighting in Spain could suffer its biggest setback to date, today, when the local Parliament in Catalonia votes on whether to ban the practice in the separatist-minded northeastern region.

The assembly is scheduled to vote on the issue this morning after animal rights activists campaigning under the platform "Prou!" or "Enough!" in the Catalan language, collected 180,000 signatures in Catalonia on a petition calling for the motion to be debated and voted on by the assembly.

The most recent indications are that a majority of the 135 lawmakers in the regional assembly are in favour of the motion to tighten Catalonia's animal protection law to remove an exception for bullfights from a ban on the killing or mistreating of animals in shows.

If approved, Catalonia, home to Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, would become the first region in the country outside of the Canary Islands to ban the practice and it could inspire other regions to follow its example.

Bullfighting was made illegal in the Canary Islands in 1991.

While the arguments in support of banning bullfighting have focused on the need to protect animal rights, many in the rest of Spain believe the drive to ban the practice is based in large part on a desire among some Catalans to emphasise their distinct identity.

In an editorial published last week, centre-right daily newspaper El Mundo wrote that the issue had become a "political issue" in a region where the "idea is to ban everything that is Spanish".

The vote comes just one month after Spain's constitutional court struck down several articles of Catalonia's "statute of autonomy" and conservative media commentators have suggested that Catalan lawmakers may now seek their revenge by banning bullfighting.

The charter, approved by Spain's national Parliament in 2006 and endorsed by Catalan voters in a referendum, had expanded the already significant powers of self-rule of the government of Catalonia, which has its own language and distinct culture.

José Montilla, the president of the Catalan regional government, has given his 37 socialist lawmakers in the assembly the freedom to vote according to their consciences.