The Government has insisted it will resist attempts to allow US-style political advertising on British television.
European judges will rule today on a legal challenge that claims a blanket ban on the adverts infringes the right to free speech.
However, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said any change to the rules governing political advertising should be a matter for the UK rather than the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The Strasbourg court's Grand Chamber will deliver its judgment on the long-running case brought by an animal welfare group, but the Government fears a relaxation of the ban could mean the airwaves are dominated by the political pressure groups with the deepest pockets.
In 2005, Animal Defenders International was blocked from screening a television advertisement which juxtaposed images of a girl and then a chimpanzee in chains in an animal cage.
The House of Lords upheld the ban in 2008 and the group took the case to the ECHR, claiming its right to freedom of expression was being broken.
Mr Grayling said: "I have very serious misgivings about the fact the court considers this issue to be within its remit. It raises major questions about the role of the ECHR in Britain.
"The ban on political advertising was put there for a purpose: to protect the integrity of our democracy. Any change should be a matter for the UK Parliament, not the ECHR."
The UK is already involved in a major row with the ECHR over votes for prisoners, with some Tories calling for the Government to abandon its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article