THE Bill to ban hunting with dogs would almost certainly face a court challenge for infringing human rights, ministers were warned yesterday.

The parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights is understood to be unhappy with the Government’s plans because of two key areas of the draft Bill that would put it at risk of claims under the Human Rights Act.

The committee of MPs and peers had demanded clarification from ministers over the precise grounds for stopping hunting on private land and over the level of compensation for those who lose their livelihoods as a result of a ban. The Times understands, however, that the response from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has failed to satisfy the committee when it met this week.

Members are preparing a strongly worded statement that they hope will influence the redrafting of the Bill, which ran out of time for this parliamentary session in the Lords. It is expected to be brought back in the next session, possibly as a backbenchers’ Bill.

The committee’s verdict will give hunt supporters hope that they can find ways to disable the legislation before it reaches the statute book. A committee source said: “Our questions are to do with infringement of private property and the implications of the scale of the ban for people.

“Members want to know whether it is justifiable to restrict what people do on private property in the public interest. It is a question of proportionality.

“Similarly, it is about whether the deprivation (of livelihoods) falls within the European Convention on Human Rights . . . this has come up in relation to nationalisation issues in the past.”

The source added: “The committee’s intervention does not have any effect on the progress of the Bill. All we do is raise questions and report our conclusions to the House . . . In the end it is Parliament’s right to legislate.”

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