THE Countryside Alliance says the Government has wrecked its hunting with dogs bill by voting overwhelmingly for a complete ban.

In a free vote on Monday night, the House of Commons rejected a bill which would have allowed some fox-hunting under licence, while banning stag hunting and hare coursing. Instead, MPs backed an outright ban by 362 to 154.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is the Sedgefield MP, did not take part in the vote on the amendment.

Angie Vaux, regional chairman of the Countryside Alliance, broke away from a 28-hour huntswomen's vigil in Parliament Square to hear the vote. She told the D&S Times: "The Government totally changed the game. We weren't expecting that at all. We weren't happy about the bill they were voting on, because we thought it was unworkable.

"Afterwards we were angry. The Government has spent two years working on this and trying to come to some arrangement of a kind we can live by.

"Now, that has all gone by the board. The Burns report and all that parliamentary time might not have ever happened.

"If they were going to go down that route they could have done it ages ago. Now it is going to waste more time to get it back to the committee stage, when there are so many other things needing attention.

"I just feel the Government are in a tight corner and said 'let's give the back benchers a ban on hunting and maybe we will get a bit more co-operation when it comes to foundation hospitals,' and so on."

Simon Hart, head of the Alliance's campaign for hunting, said the vote meant the bill was wrecked and would not get through Parliament.

"Rather than the death of hunting, this is the death of the hunting bill.

"It is in complete chaos and is now terminally damaged."

Mrs Vaux said about 2,000 people registered their signatures during the women's vigil.