The ban on fox hunting has been labelled a “massive waste” of police time after it was claimed criminal convictions have been “consistently low”.

The Countryside Alliance says Devon and Cornwall Police have not taken action against anyone involved with a registered hunt under the Hunting Act.

It was among 12 police forces in “hunt areas” not to have issued a caution, proceeded against, fined or convicted anyone since the ban came into force in 2005, the group contends.

Alice Barnard, the Countryside Alliance’s chief executive, said: “With the opening meets of the hunting season just around the corner, these statistics are a damning indictment of the expensive and failed Hunting Act.”

But the League Against Cruel Sports believes hunts are breaking the law, and that proponents of the sport have an “intimidating grip on the countryside”.

The pressure group’s report, based chiefly on Ministry of Justice data, comes as David Cameron insists Parliament will vote on repealing the Act.

The Coalition Agreement, hammered out by the Tories and Liberal Democrats, says the Government will “bring forward a motion on a free vote enabling the House of Commons to express its view on the repeal of the Hunting Act”.

Since then, there have been claims a group of 23 anti-hunting Tory MPs would vote to keep the Act.

It would be enough to win a Commons vote if allied to Labour and Lib Dems, meaning the pledge is “dead and buried”, insiders have said.

But the Prime Minister told the Western Morning News last week: “There’s no change in the position, and the commitment is the commitment, and we don’t resile from that.

“I’m sure at some stage the vote will be held. I don’t have a timing for that.”

South West Devon Conservative MP Gary Streeter said he would vote for a repeal.

He said: “I think the hunts in Devon and Cornwall have done a fantastic job of staying within the law. The sad reality is that more foxes are dying now than ever before.

“They are being shot from long range because the vermin control that the hunts offered are no longer in place.”

The Countryside Alliance claims 97 per cent of Hunting Act convictions relate to poaching or other casual hunting activities, including hunting rats. It goes on that last year six police forces cautioned 11 individuals under the Hunting Act, but not one was for an individual associated with a registered hunt.

The Alliance adds that most convictions have been secured in areas such as Merseyside and Humberside, which are not hunted over by registered packs.

By contrast, traditional hunting areas – such as Devon and Cornwall – have seen no convictions whatsoever, it says.

Last year, Tony Blair admitted in his memoirs the introduction of the ban was what he “most regrets” during his time in power, rather than war with Iraq.

Opponents have labelled the Act one of the “most illiberal, ineffective and wasteful laws of modern times”.

The Countryside Alliance’s Ms Barnard said: “As a piece of legislation it is has been condemned widely – including by those who created it.

“Yet law-abiding hunts are still forced to go about their daily lives under the threat of harassment and intimidation from saboteurs who then waste police time pursuing cases that never see the light of day.

“The evidence is now overwhelming – the Hunting Act must be repealed.”

Philip Davies, a former chief inspector, claimed the Hunting Act is a “police officer’s nightmare”.

He said: “It is hugely time-consuming, a massive distraction and produces very poor results.”

But the LACS pointed to convictions against members of registered hunts. One example is two hunt employees convicted of breaking the Hunting Act who had their appeal thrown out at Leicester Crown Court this month.

Joe Duckworth, the animal welfare group’s chief executive, said the report sent mixed messages, and that “the majority of rural people find hunting abhorrent”.

He said: “On the one hand you have the Countryside Alliance saying that hunts aren't breaking the law, and on the other they say that the law’s an ass because no hunting people were convicted last season.

“Which is it? Are they breaking the law or aren't they?”

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