Facts: Ms Mirga was a Polish national who had spent much of her life in England and had worked at various times but was now pregnant and had been refused Income Support. Mr Samin was an Austrian national who had come to the UK in 2005, was in poor health and had been refused housing assistance as a homeless person.

Judgment: the Supreme Court (Neuberger, Hale, Kerr, Clarke and Reed JJSC) held that the right to reside freely within the EU, and the right not to be discriminated against, under Articles 21 and 18 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, were conditional on EU citizens exercising a right of residence under EU law. Ms Mirga and Mr Samin were not economically and were not, for any other reason, residing in the UK in the exercise of rights under EU law and, accordingly, were not entitled to social security or housing assistance in order to give effect to Articles 21 and 18 of the TFEU. In addition, whilst in extreme circumstances it might be disproportionate, in breach Articles 21 and/or 18 to withhold such assistance from an EU whose presence was not pursuant to the exercise of rights under EU law, that did not require the authorities to undertake a proportionality assessment in every case.