A London solicitor is to take his campaign for the BBC to release a report into its Israel coverage to the highest court in the country.

For three years, the corporation has successfully resisted attempts by Steven Sugar to obtain a copy of the 2004 Balen Report under the Freedom of Information Act.

But this week, Mr Sugar said that the House of Lords has agreed to hear an appeal against previous court decisions that were in favour of the BBC.

“In agreeing to hear the case, the House of Lords clearly thinks the case is worthy of argument at the highest UK level,” he said.

But if his effort failed there, he said, he had “every intention of going to the European Court of Human Rights.”