FOXHUNTING was finally banned last night after a day of confusion at Westminster, paving the way for clashes in the countryside during next year's General Election campaign.

The "nuclear option" of the Parliament Act was used for only the fourth time since the Second World War to allow the Commons to overrule the Lords, which fought the ban to the bitter end.

But Tony Blair failed to delay implementation until at least July 2006. The ban will instead come into force on February 18 - before May's expected General Election.

The Prime Minister fears civil disobedience by hunt enthusiasts could disrupt Labour's election campaign.

Underlining those fears, hunt supporters in the North-East and North Yorkshire last night said they would continue to hunt and vowed to go to jail if necessary.

Ginny Jukes, wife of Zetland huntsman David, said: "The only way that anything seems to happen is by violence and disobedience, and I can have sympathy for people who want to do it, because it is entirely unfair. I am quite happy to go to jail."

Livery yard manager Meg Abu Hamdan, a follower of the Middleton Hunt, based near Pickering, North Yorkshire, also vowed to disobey the ban.

"Unfair laws made in an unfair way will never be respected," she said.

Although Mr Blair's own Labour MPs voted to delay until July 2006, the Government could not persuade the Lords to accept either a ban or the new timetable.

It meant the Parliament Act was invoked by the Commons Speaker, with the Hunting Bill in its original format - including a ban coming into force after only three months.

Earlier, an attempt by the Government to delay the ban until July 2007 failed when MPs threw the amendment out.

The legislation will also outlaw stag hunting and hare coursing.

But the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance is preparing to launch a judicial review of the use of the 1949 Parliament Act.

Some lawyers argue the Act is illegal because the Lords never agreed to its terms, which cut the delaying period the Lords enjoyed over legislation from two years to one.

The alliance will also offer support to Conservative candidates, in a bid to topple pro-hunting Labour MPs in marginal seats.

And it says it is ready to mount a huge campaign of civil disobedience, including landowners refusing to allow the siting of pylons and the use of land for military training.

It did not want the Prime Minister to achieve his aim of delaying the ban until after next May's election, so he could avoid scenes of conflict in the run up to the poll.

It meant Mr Blair's delaying tactics achieved the feat of uniting pro and anti-hunters who both said a ban - if inevitable - should come into force as soon as possible.

James Bates, Countryside Alliance spokesman for the region, said: "We want to maximise the embarrassment and maximise the hurt to the Government as much as we can, because we feel that is what the Government have been doing to us over the last seven years."

But Tommy Woodward, from Pickering, spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "Probably 90 per cent of the foxes killed at the moment are shot or snared anyway.

"This is what will continue when hunting is banned. They are using the existing methods as an argument for not banning it, but these methods are already in use."