Court rules against plea by Christian registrar

Ms Ladele, who became a registrar in 2002, said she could not carry out such ceremonies "as a matter of religious conscience".

She claimed she suffered ridicule and bullying as a result of her

stance and said she had been harassed and discriminated against by Islington Council in north London.

An employment tribunal found that the council had unlawfully discriminated against her, but this was overturned by the Employment Appeal Tribunal, which said there was no basis for concluding that any "discrimination had been established".

This ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal and Ms Ladele took her case to the highest court in the land.

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "Had Ms Ladele's case succeeded it would have completely undermined the equal treatment under the law for gay people and unlocked the floodgates to many other damaging challenges to the equality legislation. Her demands that anyone following their religious conscience be exempt from the law to which everyone else is subject were unreasonable, and I am pleased that the courts have recognised this."