David Cameron supports efforts to ease ban on fox-hunting

David Cameron has thrown his weight behind attempts to relax the ban on fox-hunting in England and Wales.

The prime minister has "sympathy" with calls for an end to the law banning farmers using more than two dogs to flush out foxes, his spokesman said.

"There is a very specific issue here around pest control and the impact it has on hill farmers," Downing Street said. "The prime minister has some sympathy with these concerns. Given the cross-party nature of concerns this is something which the house may wish to consider."

The coalition has promised to give MPs a free vote on the ban if parliamentary time can be made available. Owen Paterson, the environment secretary - who represents a constituency in rural Shropshire - is sympathetic to calls to scrap the limit.

Mr Cameron's spokesman said the coalition was still not guaranteeing a vote. Instead it was dependent on "decisions around the future parliamentary time table for the remainder of the parliament".

The prime minister's position will attract support from many hill farmers but brickbats from animal rights groups. Joe Duckworth, the chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said the move was "nothing but an attempt at repeal by the back door, as the pro-hunt lobby know they can't get a majority to repeal the act overall".

Fox hunting with hounds was banned in 2004 by Tony Blair after a parliamentary battle.

But rules in place allow farmers to flush foxes out of their dens and shoot them to protect dogs - so long as they do not use more than two dogs.

Farmers claim that attacks on lambs have been on the rise and say that the limited pest control measures allowed under the current law are not working.

Roger Williams, Lib Dem MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, said he had had numerous letters from constituents calling for a change in the law.

A spokeswoman for Defra said: "We have been receiving reports on increased predation of lambs by foxes and the burden this has placed on hill farmers in what has already been a tough year. We will look at all research into this with interest."

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