The ban on hunting with dogs will stay for this year, despite assurances given by David Cameron that the 2004 Hunting Act would be repealed.

The decision is a blow to the Countryside Alliance, a charity funded to work on behalf of blood sports.

Meanwhile two hunt employees in Market Harborough have been convicted under the Act for digging out a fox for their employer’s hounds to chase. The action was initiated by the charity The League Against Cruel Sports and the two men were fined a total of £3,660.

There is a view that the hunts themselves should take proper responsibility for the actions of their employees and should also be punished, and much more severely.