Lord Sumption:

In my view they are not. It is a fundamental requirement, not least of the law of the European Convention for Human Rights, that something must constitute law and that it is an essential feature of law that it should be publicly available. An announcement that the Government proposes to do this or that is not the same thing as law.

To my mind, as a matter of the law of the European Convention on Human Rights, if a Minister says that a measure will take effect on Monday but is not published until Wednesday, it is not law until Wednesday. As a matter of domestic law, the measure can apply retrospectively, but that raises very serious problems with regard to the convention.