Ian Norris, the former chief executive of Morgan Crucible who is fighting extradition to the US on price-fixing charges, was thrown a lifeline today as two senior judges gave him permission to ask for his case to be heard in the House of Lords.

Lord Justice Auld and Mr Justice Field, who dismissed Mr Norris' attempt to avoid extradition in the High Court in January, said that his case raised issues of general public importance and highlighted five questions of law that the House of Lords - the highest court in the UK - might like to consider.

Alistair Graham, Mr Norris’s solicitor, said: “We will be appealing to the House of Lords immediately and hope that the law lords will share our view that the points raised in this case need to be heard by the UK’s highest court.”

Mr Norris must now submit a formal application to the Lords, which can still refuse to hear his case.

Anand Doobay, an extradition expert at Peters and Peters, said there was no certainty the Lords would accept the case. He noted that the Lords refused to hear an appeal by three former NatWest bankers, who have since been extradited to the US on fraud charges, even though the High Court also highlighted points of wider interest in their case.

If Mr Norris’ appeal is accepted, the next hearing is likely to focus on the first point of law highlighted by the judges this morning.

This concerns whether price-fixing, which was not a specific offence in the UK at the time of Mr Norris’ alleged activity, should be included under the umbrella of the longstanding English offence of conspiracy to defraud.

If it should, as the High Court ruled in January, then Mr Norris’ alleged actions can be considered a crime in the UK as well as the US and he can be extradited according to existing agreements.

Mr Graham, a partner at White & Case, said the issue was “an absolutely critical point for UK competition law and UK businesses in general” that would affect future potential extradition requests.

Mr Graham has consistently argued that his client should not be extradited because price-fixing was not a criminal offence in the UK until 2002, when the Enterprise Act specifically identified it as a crime.

“Any decision in this matter has significant ramifications for large numbers of UK businessmen and women, who will be potentially exposed to price fixing charges in relation to the period prior to 2002,” Mr Graham added.

Piers Reynolds, a litigation lawyer at Allen & Overy, said he thought the Lords would accept the case because the issue of whether price-fixing should be included under conspiracy to defraud is "a really fundamental, and pure, question of law, whereas the NatWest 3 case raised principally jurisdictional issues, which are always more arguable on their facts."

The US authorities want Mr Norris, 63, to stand trial on seven counts of conspiring to fix prices and two counts of obstructing the course of justice.

Mr Norris, who has prostate cancer, denies accusations that he illegally fixed prices of components used to power trains under an alleged cartel arrangement between Morgan Crucible and other companies.

Mr Norris worked in Morgan Crucible’s carbon division for 29 years before he became chief executive in 1998, assuming responsibility for 180 subsidiaries in more than 60 countries. He retired because of ill-health in October 2002.

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