DEFIANT North Yorkshire foxhunters were today carrying out a "dirty" protest against anti-hunt MPs - as they again vowed to flout any ban.

Members of the Derwent Hunt and the Staintondale Hunt were this afternoon due to leave buckets of horse manure on the doorsteps of MPs who voted in favour of a hunt ban.

North Yorkshire Tories John Greenway and Anne McIntosh both voted against a ban, but Labour MP Lawrie Quinn has consistently voted in favour.

Derwent Hunt spokeswoman Sarah Morley said: "The protest is called Operation Bulls***. We will be leaving a bucket on Lawrie Quinn's doorstep and another on John Prescott's doorstep in Hull.

"The idea is to illustrate just how bad the stink of rural prejudice is. None of the evidence or arguments have been listened to. This vote has been made purely on the basis of prejudice and misperception."

Mrs Morley has previously said she would continue hunting even if it was banned.

"People will carry on regardless. There is no doubt about that," she said today.

Despite last night's vote to ban hunting outright, passed in the House of Commons by a majority of 208, doubts were immediately raised over whether the Bill would become law during this Parliament.

Today, it remained unclear whether the Government would be able to use the

Parliament Act to force the legislation through in the face of expected

opposition in the House of Lords.

Selby MP John Grogan, who voted in favour of a ban, said: "We will need the Parliament Act to get this through. I think there is still at least 12 months to run on this and there will be a few more twists and turns yet."

York's Labour MP, Hugh Bayley, and Harrogate Liberal Democrat Phil Willis also voted in favour of a ban.

A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that the Bill should go through standing committee in time to return to the Commons for a vote before the House rises for the summer recess on July 17.

This would clear the way for it to go to the Lords before the end of the

parliamentary session in the autumn.

Ministers had previously indicated that the Parliament Act would be used

to override any opposition in the Lords, but the final decision on whether to invoke it was for Parliament to make, said the spokesman.

Brian Watson, a Labour councillor in York, tried to get hunting banned on North Yorkshire County Council land in the mid-1980s. "The vote is wonderful news," he said today.

One of the country's most famous hunts - the Beaufort - said the result of the vote was just the start of its fight.

Joint master Captain Ian Farquhar said today: "This vote shows Labour to be completely out of touch. The majority of people oppose a ban and opinion polls show only two per cent of people think it's an important issue anyway."

Updated: 10:48 Tuesday, July 01, 2003