Legal: Lesbian case ruling today

A first legal declaration on a lesbian couple's sex discrimination battle against the Government will be delivered in Luxembourg today. An advocate-general of the European Court of Justice will give a preliminary opinion in a case which could force a shake-up in Britain's pensions, employment and social security systems.

The case made headlines in the summer when Cherie Booth QC appeared in court representing 29-year-old rail worker Lisa Grant whose employer South West trains refuses to give her live-in lover Jill Percey a free travel pass. The company denies it is breaking sex discrimination laws, even though the travel concession would apply to opposite-sex partners, whether married or unmarried.

Lawyers for SWT - backed by the Government - argued that as the firm denies travel concessions to male and female same-sex partners, discrimination is not on grounds of sex, which is covered by existing EU discrimination rules, but on grounds of sexual orientation, which is not.