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Support for the ban on hunting with dogs has reached a record high of 83%.

It is a big jump from 72% seven years ago.

The poll also shows that of those living in rural areas opposition to scrapping the Hunting Act has surged from 69% to 84% since 2012.

Animal welfare campaigner and Queen guitarist Brian May said: “The British public will not tolerate a backward step into the old barbaric ways.”

But hunt supporters say they expect a bumper turnout of around 250,000 people at the 300 Boxing Day meetings across the country.

(Image: PA)

It comes five months after David Cameron’s botched bid to ease restrictions on hunting.

Shadow Environment Secretary Kerry McCarthy called hunting with hounds “cruel”, adding: “As some hunts meet on Boxing Day, I really hope David Cameron doesn’t try and sneak hunting back on to the parliamentary agenda when it is so clear that people up and down this country don’t support it.”

Countryside Alliance chief executive Tim Bonner insisted the Hunting Act is “in tatters”.

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He added: “After 11 years of the Act, support for hunts is as strong as ever.”

But Tom Quinn, campaigns director of the League Against Cruel Sports which commissioned the survey of 2,000 adults, said: “Opposition to legalising fox hunting is higher than it’s ever been.

“We believe this reflects that … the vast majority of us are repulsed at the thought of killing animals for sport.”