The idea is that riders will still be able to follow the hounds across country. The hounds are allowed to chase rabbits or they may be given a scent to chase, but they could easily be diverted by the trail of a fox.

Lawyers have advised that it would be unlikely that any prosecution would succeed in the courts. The aim is also to ensure that there is no long-term campaign of civil disobedience by hunt zealots which could backfire and turn public opinion against a move to restore hunting.

The plan has been conceived by Roger Scruton, the right-wing polemicist and keen countryman, and Michael Markham, a farmer, and it is now the subject of intense debate within the hunting hierarchy.

As Labour MPs expect a Bill to ban foxhunting to return to Parliament before the summer recess, hunting figures have been forced to address how they will challenge a ban.

Professor Scruton and Mr Markham are also behind the Hunting Declaration, which has won the support of about 40,000 people who are ready to flout any ban and risk fines and imprisonment to defend the freedom to hunt.

Any ban on the sport will lead to illegal hunts en masse all over the country. It is expected that thousands will be arrested and face prosecution and that the action will clog up the courts. But senior hunting figures are concerned that a lengthy campaign of civil disobedience will not help them to win a repeal in the longer term. Writing in the latest edition of Country Illustrated, Professor Scruton and Mr Markham say: “After the first act of civil disobedience it would not be possible to go on defying the law without jeopardising the very survival of our hunts and their hounds. One would therefore find a way of keeping things going in another way.

“A possibility is for all hunts in the run-up to a ban to register themselves additionally as hound exercise clubs.” The authors have taken legal advice and presented their proposal at a recent meeting with the Countryside Alliance, the Masters of Fox Hounds Association, and the Council of Hunting Associations.

Senior figures are discussing whether each hunt should be asked to change its constitution to re-form as a hound exercise club. Members would then pay a subscription in return for part ownership of the hounds and the right to exercise them.

This would allow huntsmen and kennel staff to keep their jobs and homes, for the hunt organisation to exist, for hounds to be reared and for bloodlines to be safeguarded.

HUNTS, HOUNDS AND HORSES

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