Judiciary

Miller Case 1

• 2017

• the government attempted to trigger Article 50 (starting the process of leaving the EU) without parliamentary approval

• the court ruled that Parliament must give its consent through legislation before the government could trigger Article 50

• this case upheld parliamentary sovereignty and limited the executives ability to make major constitutional changes

Miller Case 2

• 2019

• Boris Johnson advised the Queen to prorogue Parliament for 5 weeks

• Supreme Court decided that the prorogation was unlawful

• reinforced the principle that government must be held accountable for their actions

Reilly v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

• 2013

• Reilly challenged the government’s “welfare to work” scheme - it required her to work an unpaid amount of hours for her to be able to claim benefits

  • she believed it was unlawful and a form of forced labour

  • she argued that the Department was going against an article in the ECHR regarding slavery

• Supreme Court ruled that the government had not given clear information about the scheme - making in unlawful

  • it was unlawful because they had operated ultra vires

    • government acted beyond the legal authority that was given to them

  • the government did not follow the legal procedures when creating the scheme

• however the court rejected the forced labour claim

Tigere case

• 2015

• she arrived from Zimbabwe with her father

• after her father left border agency awarded her “discretionary leave to remain”

• tigere completed her alevels and then went to university

• however she was not eligible for student loans

• the Supreme Court accepted Tigeres appeal

  • right to education

  • prohibiting discrimination