The Supreme Court has granted permission for two clients represented by Turpin Miller to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision in Vargova and Molnar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWCA Civ 31.
These cases concern the nature and scope of the protections the Withdrawal Agreement provides to EU nationals in deportation cases based on conduct committed after 31 December 2020.
The Home Office made separate decisions to deport Ms Vargova and Mr Molnar. They each appealed against those decisions to the First-tier Tribunal. In each case, the First-tier Tribunal allowed the appeal on the ground that the Secretary of State had not considered whether their removal was proportionate. The Secretary of State appealed to the Upper Tribunal which allowed the SSHD’s appeal in each case. The Upper Tribunal held that there was no proportionality test applicable in cases relying on post-Transition Period conduct.
Ms Vargova and Mr Molnar then appealed to the Court of Appeal which dismissed their appeals, agreeing with the Upper Tribunal that the EU proportionality framework no longer applies to post-2020 offending.
The Supreme Court has now agreed to consider the issue and whether the Withdrawal Agreement requires that any decision to deport an EU citizen based on post-Brexit conduct must be proportionate.
This is an issue of considerable public importance, as it concerns the rights of millions of EU nationals living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU under the Withdrawal Agreement, and how their cases will be assessed post-Brexit.
Ms Vargova and Mr Molnar are represented by Julian Stern and William Shelley of Turpin Miller’s Deportation Team.
In the Court of Appeal, Ms Vargova was represented by Tom Hickman KC of Blackstone Chambers, Gordon Lee and Bojana Asanovic of Garden Court Chambers, instructed by Izzy Ellis of Turpin Miller. Mr Molnar was represented by Simon Cox of Doughty Street Chambers and Althea Radford of One Pump Court, instructed by Julian Stern of Turpin Miller.