The Right Honourable Boris Johnson MP v The Prime Minister: A (fictional) Entrenchment Problem – and Solution (?)

Abstract

This paper presents a hypothetical Supreme Court judgment issued in response to a similarly hypothetical entrenchment problem arising in the context of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. The article imagines a scenario in which a Conservative government facing electoral defeat presses legislation through Parliament which is intended to entrench - to a very high degree - the United Kingdom's withdrawal. The hypothetical litigation suggests that the Supreme Court would upheld such legislation in the face of a subsequent statute passed in the ordinary way which purports to repeal the earlier Act.