A group of independence campaigners fighting eviction from the grounds of Holyrood by the Scottish Parliament have been ordered to pay a £105,000 legal bill.

Judges Lady Dorrian, Lord Malcolm and Lord Glennie ruled the so-called indycampers need to pay the sum to lawyers acting for the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.

The organisation is fighting a long running battle to have the campaigners removed from their camp outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

On Friday at the Court of Session, the judges ruled it was appropriate for the campers to pay the corporate body’s costs following a short hearing.

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The decision followed months of legal wrangling during which the corporate body been given the go-ahead to move forward with the eviction.

Campaigners lost an appeal against the decision and are trying to win permission to appeal against the court’s eviction ruling to the UK Supreme Court in London.

Speaking from the bench, Lady Dorrian, Scotland’s second most senior judge, said it was the normal legal convention for the side which fails to pay the costs of its opponent.

She added: “There is no good reason not to grant the motion. Expenses are awarded to the petitioners.”

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Lady Dorrian spoke moments after one of the campaigners told the court none of the campaigners could afford to pay the £105,000.

Richard McFarlane, who claims that he acts on behalf of the Sheffield-based Archangel Michael and Jesus Christ, told the court he had no money.

He told the judges Scotland would anger God and become actively involved in World War Three if the campers paid costs.

Mr McFarlane added: “I’m skint and I don’t have any assets. In any case, Jesus has absolved us of the right to pay costs in this case.”

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body won the right to evict the nationalists from their permanent camp outside Holyrood in a judgement issued by Lord Turnbull last July.

The judge ruled it would not breach the human rights of campaigners for them to be moved on from the camp.

A man who claims to be the Archangel Michael, the commander of the Christian God’s army in Heaven, believes the camp will encourage the second coming on Earth of Jesus Christ.

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Judges in Scotland are still considering if the campers should be allowed to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.

They will rule on the matter in another hearing which is scheduled to take place on January 10, 2017.