Foxhunting was left out of the Queen's Speech, but in Cumbria the chase is still on for a repeal of the hunting ban.

Prime Minister Theresa May promised during the election campaign that she would allow a free vote on whether the ban on foxhunting should be repealed, but it didn't make it into the list of bills.

Master of the Blencathra Hunt, Michael Thompson, said he was not surprised a repeal of the hunting ban was dropped from the Queen's Speech.

"The ban has been in place now for 12 years. We are just carrying on as before. It was not in Theresa May's manifesto, so we were not expecting it to be mentioned by the Queen," said Mr Thompson, who added they had faced a few 'false dawns'. "We will just wait for some change in the law, if there will ever be one."

Seen as an important cultural tradition in Cumbria going back many hundreds of years, Mr Thompson added that the hunts now had more support than they had ever had from all walks-of-life.

Joanne Charlton from the Cumberland Foxhounds said they had no plans to change anything about the way they operate. "We go with the law and work with it."

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said they had never expected a repeal on the foxhunting ban in the Queen's Speech.

However, the Queen mentioned the Agricultural Bill in her speech, and afterwards the Country, Land and Business Association commented: "Getting Brexit right for farming is of fundamental importance to the rural economy and we welcome the fact it will be subject to detailed scrutiny during the passage of a dedicated Agricultural Bill."