In the same Bank Mellat case, Lord Sumption, who gave the leading majority speech, summed up the cumulative effect of these influential cases by outlining a four-part analysis of proportionality as a concept in UK law, an approach agreed to by Lord Reed. According to Lord Sumption:

'[T]he question depends on an exacting analysis of the factual case advanced in defence of the measure, in order to determine (i) whether its objective is sufficiently important to justify the limitation of a fundamental right; (ii) whether it is rationally connected to the objective; (iii) whether a less intrusive measure could have been used; and (iv) whether, having regard to these matters and to the severity of the consequences, a fair balance has been struck between the rights of the individual and the interests of the community. These four requirements are logically separate, but in practice they inevitably overlap because the same facts are likely to be relevant to more than one of them.'