TOBACCO firms have used "every legal trick in the book" to overturn a European ban on advertising.

Euro MP Gary Titley says he is bitterly disappointed at the ruling by the European Court of Justice to declare the ban illegal.

The EU laws, approved in 1997, would have imposed the ban in stages. Billboard advertising was due to disappear next year, followed by newspaper and magazine adverts in 2005.

Most tobacco industry sponsorship of sporting events was supposed to end by 2003, although some worldwide sports like Grand Prix racing were given until 2006 to comply.

"The decision to impose the ban was made in the face of ferocious opposition from the tobacco industry," said the Radcliffe-based Labour MEP. "Now they have brought in legal big guns to overturn the legislation on the basis of a technicality.

"That is a bitter disappointment. We may have lost that particular battle but Europe's war against tobacco is far from over. Too many lives are at stake to cave in now."

Mr Titley said that Labour MEPs would be pressing the European Commission to bring forward new legislation urgently.