A Staffordshire magistrate and hunt follower was yesterday considering whether he would give up his post and break the law if the Commons voted to ban hunting. Pig farmer Chris Jackson said he would decide whether to resign as a JP in order to defy any ban after MPs vote on the Hunting Bill tomorrow. His dilemma came as campaigners said the "gloves were off" in their fight to save fox hunting and hare-coursing and lit beacons across the West Midlands in protest last night. More than 1,000 pro-hunt supporters from the region are expected to descend on Parliament to protest tomorrow and many have already vowed to defy any ban if it becomes law. A group of campaigners will also lobby the Labour Party conference in Brighton later this month. The Countryside Alliance said it would take the Government to court if it uses the Parliament Act to force the Bill through the House of Lords. Speaking from his home in Abbots Bromley yesterday, Mr Jackson said: "I am a magistrate and I cannot break the law, I can't be seen to be telling others to break the law but I have to make a decision about what I am going to do and I don't quite know whether I can continue in both jobs. "That is a decision I don't want to make but I have been forced to make it. "I think Blair is a disgrace. He is using the hunting issue to take flak away from proper issues. It is verging on the criminal what they are doing. It has nothing to do with animals, it is to do with old Labour Party dogma and toffs on horses." Clare Rowson, West Midlands regional director of the Countryside Alliance, said: "There is still a huge battle to fight but now the gloves are off. "People will continue to hunt because they believe this is an unjust law. We were promised a law on principle and evidence and it is certainly not based on evidence. It is purely a vindictive Bill based on prejudice. "The curtain raiser was the beacons which gave us an opportunity for the countryside to show their anger and show they are not going to go away. Tomorrow is just the beginning." If the ban gets the go ahead it will not become law for two years to give hunts time to make 'humane arrangements' for dogs. A ban on hare-coursing, however, will come into effect three months after the Bill receives Royal Assent. Maurice Brett, of Protect Our Wild Animals, said if a hunting ban went through the campaign group was likely to focus its efforts on calling for a ban on shooting. He criticised the Govern-ment's decision for a two-year delay on banning hunting with hounds, claiming it would see a further 200,000 animals die. He added "We would be more content if there wasn't going to be a delay for two years. "It is unnecessary, the hunters have known for a long time that a ban was going to go through." Mr Brett rejected claims that hunt supporters would carry on regardless and defy the law. "No doubt some of them who are adamant to break the law will carry on but that has to come to an end. I don't think the majority of hunters and followers will do it and a minority will not be able to continue like that for too long." Asked what POWA would campaign for if a hunting ban was introduced, Mr Brett added: "I would personally think that organisations would look to lobby against shooting, in particular the shooting of birds for sport and entertainment." | 
