Hunt supporters in the North last night vowed to break the law to continue with their way of life.

Their defiant stance came as police in the region warned a ban would be almost impossible to enforce.

MPs voted on Wednesday for a total ban on hunting with dogs and the Bill is set to go to the Lords where the Government is expected to invoke the Parliament Act to prevent it being rejected again.

But, yesterday, countryside campaigners said they would keep hunting no matter what.

"There's a complete underestimation at how determined people are to carry on," said Morpeth Hunt master Michael Jeans last night.

"I will defy any ban. There's no way hunts will be starting to make plans to wind things up because we will keep fighting to the very end.

"Tens of thousands of people have pledged to break the law to continue hunting, including me, and it will be impossible for the police to do anything about it."

He added: "How is a constable going to arrest 50 people on horseback? The police just don't have the resources so it's pie in the sky to think they will be able to stop us."

Countryside Alliance regional director Richard Dodd said 60,000 people nationwide had so far signed a promise to defy a hunt ban. "We've not picked this argument, but we won't be backing down," he said.

Frank Houghton-Brown, master of Tynedale Hunt, is one of those 60,000 people. He said: "We're not going to start disbanding our hunts.

"I won't be shooting my hounds and I won't be sacking people, because that is what it would mean."

Haydon Hunt member Pam Pattinson, has also signed up to defy the ban.

"The whole thing is in free-fall now," she said. "We are all essentially law-abiding people, but we won't recognise this law because it will be an unjust law."

Jeff Donnison, secretary of the Police Federation's Northumbria branch said: "To see how we are going to enforce such a ban will be interesting to say the least. It's been ill thought-out and the resource implications of a ban will be massive, especially for a force like Northumbria, covering such a vast rural area."

Dave Robinson, secretary at the Federation's Durham office, said: "It's going to be the most difficult thing to police."

A spokesman for Durham Police said the force would assess the powers the Bill gives to officers if it becomes legislation.

A spokesman for Northumbria Police would not comment until a final decision had been made.

From July 31, 2006 hunting with dogs will be banned across England and Wales.

Under the legislation, any hunt using a pack of hounds to chase a wild animal to exhaustion before killing it will be committing a criminal offence.

The Government is urging hunts to find alternative methods of hunting, including drag hunts, where a scent is laid for the dogs to follow, hunting without a pack and other equestrian recreational activities.

However ministers have conceded some exceptions to the rule of a general ban including the use of a small number of dogs in order to keep foxes under control in areas where they are classed as pests.

Gamekeepers, for example, will be able to use two dogs to flush out foxes above ground where they can then be trapped and shot.

Only one dog will be allowed to flush a fox out from below ground.

Dogs can also be used when hunting rats, but the Scottish option of hunts turning themselves into gun packs to use dogs to flush foxes from their cover will not be allowed.

Although the foxes are shot north of the border, some huntmasters have allowed their animals to overstep the mark.

By setting a limit on the maximum number of dogs able to be used at two MPs feel they have closed this loophole.

An Environment Department spokeswoman said: "The purpose is to stop the setting of a pack of hounds on to one wild animal, chasing it for a long time until it is exhausted and then tearing it to bits."

The Journal: Today's Voice of the North

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