HUNT supporters have lost their High Court challenge against a law that will ban hunting with dogs in England and Wales.

Pro-hunt organisation, the Countryside Alliance, argued that the law, which was passed in November, was unsound because the 1949 Parliament Act used to force it through, in the face of the House of Lords, was invalid.

The Act allows the House of Commons to overrule the House of Lords. But the alliance's argument hinged on the fact that the 1949 law itself was not valid because it was not passed by peers.

High Court judges Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Mr Justice Collins ruled that the hunting ban was legitimate. The CA will be able to appeal against the ruling on February 8, before the ban comes into force on February 18.

If this appeal fails, the organisation plans to continue its protest against the ban by taking its challenge to the House of Lords.

Following the ruling, Countryside Alliance chief executive Simon Hart vowed to fight on.

The alliance is to also lodge a separate challenge to the ban, under the European Convention of Human Rights.

It may also seek an injunction against the ban to prevent prosecutions under the Hunting Act pending legal challenges.

But the League Against Cruel Sports, which welcomed the ban, said that it was ready to make legal representations against any injunction.

Cumbrian representative for the league, Elaine Milburn, said she was "delighted" with the judges' ruling. But she said she supported the organisation's decision to contest any injunction put forward by the CA.