The Government's controversial Trade Union Bill cleared its final Commons hurdle despite widespread opposition and amid claims it was designed to stifle dissent and could lead to rioting.

The Bill will introduce a 50% turnout requirement for strike ballots while in certain public services at least 40% of the people entitled to vote would have to vote yes for action to go ahead.

It also contains measures relating to picketing and the way in which trade union subscriptions are paid.

The Bill cleared its third reading in the Commons by 305 votes to 271, majority 34, and will now move onto the House of Lords for further scrutiny.

Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle described it as a "nasty, vindictive" Bill which infringes on civil liberties and is part of a "deliberate strategy" to "legislate (the Government's) critics into submission".

The Labour frontbencher said: "In fact it's an outdated response to the problems of decades past.

"This Bill is bad for workers and it's bad for business.

"What is it about this Conservative Government that it's so afraid of checks and balances on its power, including challenge from free trade unions and unshackled civil society?

"This is a Government pursuing a very deliberate strategy to legislate its critics into silence or submission."

She added: "The Bill is a divisive piece of legislation which undermines the basic protections trade unions provide for people of work.

"It's poorly drafted, it's legally unsound, in conflict with international obligations and it undermines the devolution settlement.

"It does nothing to tackle the pressing national challenges our public services, business and industries alike are facing and instead it tries to drive a false wedge between government, industry, employees and the public."

But Business Minister Nick Boles insisted the Bill was necessary to "modernise" industrial relations and balance the rights of union members and the public whose lives are disrupted by strikes.

He said: "This Bill seeks to do two things - to modernise the relationship between trade unions and their members and to redress the balance between the rights of trade unions and the rights of the general public, whose lives are often disrupted by strikes.

"We have brought it forward as a party that believes in trade unions, that is proud to win the support of many trade union members at elections and that wants trade unions to carry on doing the excellent work they do to to encourage workplace learning and resolve disputes at work."

To howls of protest from Labour benches, Tory MP David Rutley (Macclesfield) said the Government was "finishing the job" of trade union reform which started under former prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

He said: "On this side of the House we have to finish the job of trade union reform that we started in the 1980s, that we carried into the 1990s.

"Because there are those opposite, leading members opposite who saw the industrial strife of the 1970s and 1980s as a dry run of where they want to go next."

Earlier at report stage, a furious row broke out over changes to picketing, with shadow business minister Kevin Brennan attacking them as "un-British".

He said: "These new provisions go far beyond what is fair or necessary - in fact they were described by (Tory MP) David Davis as Franco-style. I think that's an appropriate description."

The Bill requires a picket supervisor to be appointed and says they should have an "approval letter".

The picket supervisor must wear an armband or badge identifying them as such under the terms of the Bill.

Ministers have made concessions, including dropping a requirement for two weeks' notice for picketing plans.

Mr Boles said none of the picketing measures were new and reflected "key aspects" of the picketing code which has been in place since 1992.

He also defended the Government's planned changes to the way in which people pay their union subscription, saying it was important that they opt in to deductions rather than have it done automatically.

Labour MP Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) slammed the Bill and said it was a "ferocious, full frontal attack on the trade union movement".

He said: "I predict one thing - that ordinary people who are pressurised too much, you will get a reaction.

"I predict from the floor of the House of Commons that there will be civil disobedience because bad laws need to be changed."