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Under EU law, the principle of [[freedom of establishment]] states that nationals of any member state can freely incorporate and run a business across the EU without unjustified interference. The [[House of Lords]] held that, because the EU law conflicted with the sections of the 1988 Act, those sections would not be enforced, and disapplied, because Parliament had not clearly expressed an intention to renounce the 1972 Act. According to [[Lord Bridge]] "whatever limitation of its sovereignty Parliament accepted when it enacted the [1972 Act] was entirely voluntary".<ref name="Factortame"/> It was, therefore, the duty of the courts to apply EU law.
On the other hand, in ''[[R (HS2 Action Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport]]'' the Supreme Court held that certain fundamental principles of [[British constitutional law]] would not be interpreted by the courts as having been given up by membership of the EU, or probably any international organisation.<ref>''[[R (on the application of HS2 Action Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport]]'' [2014] UKSC 3.</ref> Here a group protesting against the [[High Speed 2]] rail line from London to Manchester and Leeds claimed that the government had not properly followed an Environmental Impact Assessment Directive by whipping a vote in Parliament to approve the plan. They argued that the Directive required open and free consultation, which was not fulfilled if a [[party whip]] compelled party members to vote. The Supreme Court unanimously held the Directive did not require that no party whip occurred, but if a conflict had existed a Directive would not be able to compromise the fundamental constitutional principle from the [[Bill of Rights 1689|Bill of Rights]] that Parliament is free to organise its affairs.
Fourth, [[devolution in the United Kingdom]] has meant Parliament gave power to legislate on specific topics to nations and regions: the [[Scotland Act 1998]] created the [[Scottish Parliament]], the [[Government of Wales Act 1998]] created the [[Welsh Assembly]], the [[Northern Ireland Act 1998]] created a [[Northern Ireland Executive]] following the historic [[Good Friday Agreement]], to bring peace. In addition, the [[Local Government Act 1972]] and the [[Greater London Authority Act 1999]] give more limited powers to local and London governments. Practically, but also constitutionally, it has become increasingly accepted that decisions should not be taken for the UK which would override, and run counter to, the will of regional governments. However, in ''[[R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union]]'', a group of people who sought to remain in the [[European Union]] contested the government on whether the Prime Minister could trigger Article 50 to notify the [[European Commission]] of the UK's intention to leave, without an [[Act of Parliament]].<ref>''[[R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union]]'' [2017] [http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2017/5.html UKSC 5]</ref> This followed the [[Brexit poll of 2016]] where 51.9% of those voting voted to leave.<ref>See {{format link|Opinion polling for the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum#Post–referendum polling}}</ref>
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