Senior judges have accused television companies of censorship over their refusal to screen in full a party political broadcast containing images of abortions.

The Court of Appeal, in overturning a High Court ruling, decided that the action by the BBC and independent channels in refusing to show part of the broadcast by the Prolife Alliance was illegal.

Forum Response: BBC

A spokesperson for the BBC told ePolitix.com: "We are very concerned about the effects of this decision. The broadcasters have been entrusted by Parliament with the obligation not to broadcast material that offends against good taste or decency or is likely to be offensive to public feeling.

"This obligation has effectively been overridden by the Court of Appeal for the purposes of party election broadcasts save in the most exceptional of circumstances. This means that viewers may be subjected to material that will cause widespread and gross offence. For these reasons, the BBC will seek leave to appeal to the House of Lords against this decision.

"This marks a departure from the previous judicial approach in the 1997 election taken both here and in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The decision not to allow these images to be broadcast into people's homes was taken individually by each broadcaster (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, HTV, S4C) who each came to the same conclusion.

"For the broadcasters, this was a case about whether the broadcast of certain explicit images breached our legal duty to refrain from transmitting grossly offensive material into the home, taking into account the importance of the need for freedom of political speech at election time. The text of the party election broadcast was never censored, and the broadcast from the ProLife Alliance was transmitted in Wales, where the party fielded enough candidates to qualify.

"Throughout this matter, the BBC has been in discussion with other broadcasters and the Independent Television Commission, and we will continue these discussions."

Forum Response: Independent Television Commission

A spokesperson for the Independent Television Commission told ePolitix.com: "We will be following the passage of the BBC's appeal very closely as it obviously has repercussions for the coverage of future election campaigns."