Police forces in are using the Hunting Act to catch and prosecute poachers to give the impression that the controversial ban is working, according to campaigners.

The pro-hunting Countryside Alliance said that next week's expected Government announcement showing an increase in Hunting Act prosecutions was nothing more than "a veneer" to show the ban was a success.

In fact, just one hunt was prosecuted this season in the entire country – Richard Down, the huntsman for the Quantocks Staghounds, who received his second conviction and a fine for breaching the ban in the late autumn.

Countryside Alliance chief executive Alice Barnard has struck a pre-emptive blow against the release of the figures by the Home Office, which are expected next week.

She said: "The statistics are likely to show plenty of prosecutions but not, as our opponents will claim, against hunts. Prosecutions have been for poaching offences rather than against registered packs in England and Wales for hunting. So the Hunting Act has rapidly become a law which is about poaching, not hunting.

"The Act is being used by the police to tackle poaching, lending a veneer of success-through-numbers to an Act that is a dismal failure," she added.

Mrs Barnard warned some in the pro-hunting fraternity that despite the lack of prosecutions of hunts, there should still be pressure to repeal the Act.

"The small number of convictions against hunts under the Hunting Act gives rise to some advocating the status quo, but don't be fooled.

"We continue to make the case for repeal, and the numbers released on May 26 are likely to enhance that case."