The owners of a Belfast bakery have lost an appeal in a row over a cake supporting gay marriage.

Ashers Bakery refused to bake a cake with a slogan supporting same-sex marriage, on the grounds that it clashed with their Christian beliefs.

This morning the Court of Appeal in Belfast has upheld an earlier finding that the shop unfairly discriminated against customers by refusing to bake the cake, with the words "Support Gay Marriage".

Ashers' owner Daniel McAndrew said he felt allowing Ashers to bake the cake would mean the bakery was also responsible for its message.

Ashers Bakery on Belfast's Royal Avenue, which refused to bake a cake with a slogan supporting gay marriage in 2014.

But Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, ruled that baking the cake did not necessarily mean endorsing its message - stating, for comparison, that baking a cake with a sports team's logo did not mean endorsing that team, or that baking Halloween cake did not necessarily mean stating a belief in the existence of witches.

He also found that bakers could not discriminate against customers on the basis of their religious beliefs.

The court also rejected arguments from the North's Attorney General, who said the local law breached by Ashers was in itself contradicted by European human rights law.

The rejection of that argument could see the case appealed further, to the UK's Supreme Court in London - or possibly even to the European Court of Human Rights, where the finding would be binding on 47 countries including Ireland.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News: