CHANGES to the fox-hunting ban will be made as early as next week after the Government gave the green light for an open debate.

Hampshire campaigners who want to see the ban repealed have called it a “step in the right direction” while those opposed have said it is “repealing it through the back door”.

Since 2005 hunts across the country have been prevented from using more than two hounds to flush out foxes before they are shot.

The changes, will be debated and voted on in the House of Commons on Wednesday, would bring the law in England and Wales into line with what is in place in Scotland.

Some Conservative politicians in the region, including Romsey MP Caroline Nokes and New Forest MP Julian Lewis, have said they would vote in favour for the changes but have not given their reasons why.

Dr Graham Ferris who is secretary of the New Forest Hounds said: “I think if it brings the law in England and Wales into line with Scottish legislation, it’s not a complete repeal of the act, but it would be a step in the right direction.

“It wouldn’t affect our hunt, we’re a trail hunt.”

But Labour MP for Southampton Test, Alan Whitehead, said he would be voting against the changes.

He said: “What’s being done is an attempt to restore fox hunting by the back door.”

He added that it was “an underhand way of dealing with the issue” while not allowing “proper debate on the rights and wrongs put before the house”.

“If there’s going to be a debate on repeal, it’s a pretty desperate way of doing things,” he said.

The Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has powers to “vary the terms of exempt hunting” by a Statutory Instrument, which requires a majority vote in both the Commons and the Lords.

Barney White-Spunner, executive chairman of the Countryside Alliance, said: “We still believe that the Hunting Act needs to be scrapped, but in the circumstances these amendments meet the immediate needs of the rural community.”