Under an initiative launched last year, young people can apply to receive a €400 culture voucher after they turn 18 which can be used for a range of cultural and artistic activities.

Bullfighting was deliberately excluded from the activities covered by the voucher scheme, prompting legal action by an industry body, the Toro de Lidia Foundation.

Spain’s Supreme Court has now ruled that bullfighting must be included in the scheme as it was previously recognised as part of the country’s “cultural heritage” under a 2013 law, The Guardian reports.

The government has said it accepts and will implement the court ruling, which is likely to reignite a bitter national row over the ethics of bullfighting and its long-term future.