The bitter battle over fox hunting was re-ignited last night as the Government moved to rush a ban through Parliament - but even if it gets the go-ahead it will not become law for two years.

Supporters of hunting called the move a vicious, prejudiced attack on families across the country and the Tories vowed to reverse it if they come to power.

Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael said MPs would be given a free vote on a Bill to ban hunting of foxes with hounds and hare-coursing.

A date for the Bill to be debated in the Commons would be announced by Leader of the House Peter Hain today.

It is widely expected to take place on Wednesday next week, with a vote the same day.

Announcing plans to reintroduce the Hunting Bill which was blocked by peers last year, Mr Michael said the Government intended to fulfil its manifesto commitment to enable Parliament to settle the issue before the next general election. He will ask MPs to agree to postpone the implementation of the fox hunting ban for two years after the Bill - which applies only to England and Wales - is passed, in order to minimise the impact on rural communities. But he said it was intended the hare-coursing ban should come into effect three months after the Bill received Royal Assent.

He said the two-year delay on the fox hunting ban would "give those involved in hunting more than adequate time to cease the activities which are to be banned, for humane arrangements, like the dispersal or re-homing of dogs, and for refocusing any business activities on alternatives like drag hunting or disposal of fallen stock if they wish to do so".

But these welfare considerations did not apply to hare coursing events, he said. "Violence and intimidation associated with illegal coursing events is a real and pressing problem in many areas of the countryside today," he said.

"We have received many representations asking us to take firm and speedy action to enable the police to tackle these associated evils."

He said most hunt supporters were law-abiding people who were prepared to respect the will of Parliament. "Extra time for implementation will make it even clearer that illegal actions and threats or intimidation are totally unjustified. He was adamant the Parliament Act could be used and the Bill would not breach human rights legislation.

The Countryside Alliance said in the run-up to the announcement that it would "signal an outright assault on everyone who believes in freedom and tolerance". Chief executive Simon Hart said: "The wider public will ask how a Prime Minister who last week pledged that his policies would benefit hard working families can justify this vicious, prejudiced attack on families across the country."

Douglas Batchelor, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "This heralds the high point of our 80-year campaign to expose fox hunting as a cruel sport and to get it banned. We are very concerned, however, at the suggestion that the Government might be asking MPs to vote to delay implementation of the ban by a further period. We simply cannot see any good reason for a delay."

Shadow environment secretary Tim Yeo said: "If Labour railroad through a bill to ban hunting using the Parliament Act we will introduce a Government Bill to reverse Labour's ban."

He added that the vast majority of Conservatives believed a ban was an infringement of civil liberties and damaging to the countryside.