Labour's ruling body has won its bid to overturn a High Court decision paving the way for new party members to vote in the forthcoming leadership election.
The Court of Appeal allowed the attempt by party officials to reinstate a block imposed by Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) on tens of thousands of recruits getting the vote.
READ MORE: SNP chief warns Yes will lose again if Scots believe independence will make them poorer
The NEC decided that full members would not be able to vote if they had not had at least six months' continuous membership up to July 12.
Announcing the Court of Appeal's decision on Friday, Lord Justice Beatson, sitting with Lady Justice Macur and Lord Justice Sales, said: "On the correct interpretation of the party rules, the National Executive Committee has the power to set the criteria for members to be eligible to vote in the leadership election in the way that it did."
READ MORE: SNP chief warns Yes will lose again if Scots believe independence will make them poorer
The three judges had been urged to overturn a test case ruling on Monday in favour of five members who said they were unlawfully "frozen out" of the high-profile contest between Jeremy Corbyn and rival Owen Smith.
Iain McNicol, the party's general secretary, led the appeal against Mr Justice Hickinbottom's decision that swept away a ban on recruits who joined after January 12 getting the vote.
The NEC decided on July 12 - referred to as the "freeze date" - that full members would not be able to vote if they had not enjoyed continuous party membership for at least six months.
READ MORE: SNP chief warns Yes will lose again if Scots believe independence will make them poorer
But the High Court declared that refusing them the vote would be an unlawful breach of the party's contract with members as set out in the rule book.
Lawyers for the five - Christine Evangelou, the Rev Edward Leir, Hannah Fordham, Chris Granger and "FM", a teenage member - had argued that the NEC had no power under the rules to retrospectively freeze a full member's ability to vote in leadership elections.
They say approximately 150,000 individuals joined the party between January 12 and July 12 and their ability to vote is at stake.
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