Fields sports supporters in the region last night vowed to fight "tooth and nail" to defend their sport as speculation mounted that Tony Blair is preparing to introduce a Bill banning hunting before Easter.

Pro-hunt campaigners in the region said they expected the Bill to be introduced within weeks and were quite prepared to retaliate if that happened.

Richard Dodd, regional director of the Countryside Alliance, said he believes the Government will time the hunting Bill to deflect attention from its education plans.

"I wouldn't be at all surprised to find it introduced within the next few weeks," he said yesterday.

"We've heard a deal has been done and hunting is on the sacrificial altar.

"I firmly believe Blair will be using hunting to take the attention away from his poor policies elsewhere on university tuition fees. But, whenever he is ready, we are ready.

"We are campaigning constantly and we will be fighting tooth and nail against the Bill whether it is introduced next week or next year."

Pam Pattinson, secretary of the Haydon Hunt, who farms at Hotbank Farm at Haydon Bridge, said: "Blair always hauls the hunting Bill out whenever he's in hot water and he's in boiling water at the moment.

"We'll just have to get on the campaign wagon again and be as disruptive and belligerent as we can about it."

A spokesman for Defra yesterday confirmed that ministers are determined to finalise the Bill before the end of the parliamentary session after years of deadlock between the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

"There has been speculation the Bill will be introduced before Easter, but at the moment it is just that - speculation," he said.

"What we have said all along is the Government is committed to resolving the issue this Parliament and that is what we are saying now."

Animal welfare groups yesterday said the Bill should be introduced as soon as possible after Labour MPs last year voted overwhelmingly to throw out a Government proposal to licence hunting in England and Wales in favour of outlawing the sport completely. "A ban on hunting has become a matter of trust between the Government and the public and the Prime Minister needs to resolve this matter as soon as possible," said League Against Cruel Sports spokeswoman Anne Holmes yesterday.

"The Countryside Alliance and other hunt supporters are jumping up and down saying this is going to waste parliamentary time, but it needn't. It's all very straightforward. The Commons has already voted overwhelmingly for a ban. They said they'd use a parliamentary act to get it through and that is what should happen as soon as it can."