HUNTSMEN from Kirklees have vowed to overturn the ban on their sport voted through by Parliament.

Following unprecedented scenes in the House of Commons when protesters burst in on the debating chamber while other hunt supporters clashed with riot police outside the building, MPs voted overwhelmingly to ban hunting with dogs.

Four hunts are based near Huddersfield which will all be affected by the ruling - the Holme Valley Beagles and Colne Valley Beagles, the Pennine Foxhounds and the Rockwood Hunt.

Frank Beaumont, past master of the Holme Valley Beagles travelled down to London with about 50 other hunt supporters yesterday.

The ban comes into force in 18 months' time.

Mr Beaumont said: "A lot of things can happen. Challenges are going to be made to Parliament and we are going to have to wait and see what happens. There's a great deal of anger."

The Holme Valley Beagles, which hunt hares, will continue to hunt through the coming season starting next month.

A typical pack of hounds will typically have between 40 to 60 dogs, ranging from the beagle to the larger foxhound.

If the bill is eventually implemented hunting with hounds will be outlawed from July 31 2006.

Speaking from Parliament Square yesterday before police clashed with protesters James Bates, a Yorkshire spokesman for the Countryside Alliance, feared the consequences of a ban on the packs of foxhounds would be dire.

"I can't think how many hounds are going to have to be put down."

Mr Bates said the foxhounds would be very difficult to re-home should the hunts be disbanded.

He criticised the stance of the RSCPA and League Against Cruel Sports who, he said, were indirectly endangering the future of historic packs.

He described a defiant mood among the 20,000 protesters who travelled to London to battle the ban.

He added: "There is no support for this legislation in the country and the countryside as a whole."

He continued: "Hunting with dogs is the least cruel and most effective way of culling foxes."

Phyllis Campbell McRae, UK director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said: "We see this as a landmark decision, not just here in Britain. At last Britain can hold its head up high when it challenges whale and elephant hunting."