THE DEATHKNELL has been sounded for fox hunting after MPs voted to completely ban the pursuit.

A five-and-a-half hour debate in the House of Commons on Monday led to MPs voting for an amendment to completely ban hunting by 362 votes to 154, a majority of 208.

The vote left in tatters the Government's own amended Hunting Bill, which sought to allow foxhunting under a licensing system, but only in cases where it was proven to be the most humane method of pest control.

The Middle Way, which would have seen hunting packs licensed and left to self -regulate those permits, was dropped from the voting options.

Before becoming Government legislation the Bill will be discussed by the House of Lords and must go back to a Commons committee for further consideration, although the Government has the power to use the Parliament Act to pass the Bill without the Lords' approval.

During the debate Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Cotswold MP said: "What is the scientific basis for banning autumn hunting. If he (Alun Michael) cannot give us that basis we will have to conclude that he is merely pandering to the wishes of those behind him, which is what we have suspected all along."

James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire and Conservative Rural Affairs Spokesman added: "Calm sensible people across Britain, and people in the rest of the world, will observe our proceedings with a mixture of horror and puzzlement.

"It is a bizarre waste of parliamentary time to discuss hunting when just two per cent of the British public think that it's a priority issue.

"At a time when we have soldiers dying in Iraq and the health service, education and transport are in crisis, why are we wasting a valuable day of parliamentary time discussing fox hunting?"

Paul Richardson, spokesman for Cirencester Animal Rights, said: "I'm laughing with joy. The point was and is that it was understood it was going to happen anyway.

"With all the pressure now of the antis they are going to have to give it parliamentary time, so one way or the other the ban is going to have to go through, there's no doubt about that.

"If the ban goes through and it will, and they are still prepared to go hunting they will still be faced with animal rights people."

Hunting supporters from the Cotswold Vale of the White Horse (VWH) and Beaufort hunts were among a Hunting 4 Families group which held a vigil in Parliament Square from Sunday afternoon until the vote at 11pm on Monday.

Scilla Phillips, whose family farms near Bibury and hunts with the VWH, was among the 1,000 strong party of protesters.

She believes the ban would lead to foxes becoming extinct because instead of their numbers being controlled through hunting the animal would be widely shot.

The ban would have a wide and damaging impact on rural life, bringing potential job losses and resulting in farmers abandoning efforts to maintain woodland habitat grown for foxes, she said.

Mrs Phillips added: "I'm very disappointed. We have tried to campaign but we are the minority. We are not blood-lust animal killers like a lot of these people say we are. I love my animals. Every now and then we kill a fox but we don't kill them all."