The 2013–2014 Legal Year in Overview: Constitutional Law

The UK Supreme Court decided five constitutional law cases in 2014. R (HS2 Action Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport 1 involved EU law supremacy considerations. The appellants initially commenced judicial review proceedings in April 2012. Their claim was upheld on some issues but dismissed on the matters before the Supreme Court which unanimously dismissed the appeal. The first issue was whether a Government command paper regarding a high speed rail link (HS2) from London to the north should have been preceded by a strategic environmental assessment. It was held that the command paper did not constrain the decision-making processes of Parliament which was not bound by any criteria found in previous Government statements. The second issue was whether a proposed hybrid bill procedure would comply with the procedural requirements of Directive 2011/92/EU and whether it was appropriate for the Court to consider the compatibility of Parliamentary procedure at that stage. It was held that whilst it was appropriate to consider compatibility at the present stage rather than waiting until legislation had been enacted, the contention that the procedure envisaged by the Government would not permit an adequate examination of the environmental information was found to be unpersuasive.