HUNTING with dogs could return to the Hampshire countryside if the Conservatives win the next general election, it has been revealed.

Tory bosses are reported to be planning to repeal the ban imposed in 2005 and reintroduce the legal hunting with dogs of foxes and deer should they take power.

It has also been revealed that they would support the setting up of a Hunt Regulatory Authority to police the behaviour of hunts.

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And last night the two MPs for the New Forest welcomed the plans to bring back hunting with dogs.

But opponents of hunting say they will fiercely contest any attempt to lift the ban.

Under the ban it is illegal for hunts to purposefully set out to kill animals. But while exercising the dogs or drag hunting they are allowed to ‘flush out’ animals as long as the quarry is shot rather than killed by hounds.

Some hunts used a bird of prey, because one exemption was that an unlimited number of hounds could ‘flush out’ for a hawk.

Ken James, 85, chairman of the New Forest Animal Protection Group and an anti-hunt campaigner for more than 30 years, said: “The public does not want it back.

“A Hunt Regulatory Authority is absolute rubbish. Any hunting of wild animals with packs of dogs is cruel, whether regulated or not.”

Desmond Swayne, MP for New Forest West, said it would allow for a free vote in the House of Commons in Government time.

“This is a matter of tremendous importance to a tiny number of people. It is not something most people give much thought to.

“My view is that it is a question of individual judgement and individual liberty and I am not in favour of banning things.”

Dr Julian Lewis, MP for New Forest East, said a free vote of MPs in the light of a Tory election victory was not guaranteed, but added it would be highly likely.

“I don’t engage in hunting but have always supported the right of people to do so.”

One local hunt welcomed the news. But Peregrine Rowse, joint master of the Hampshire Hunt, said there was no certainty that a Commons vote would repeal the ban.

“There are some Conservative MPs who have not supported hunting.

Some have realised the error of their ways and changed their views because the hunting ban has been seen to fail.

“There have been a lot of unsuccessful prosecutions. The act is unworkable, a muddle.

“There are more people hunting now than before the ban. Hunting has modernised its image and become more welcoming to new people.

“More people understand the role that hunting plays in the rural community,”

added Mr Rowse.