Welcome to the latest in our series of Beyond Brexit Podcasts.

Today we are discussing tax policy in light of the Chancellor's recent budget and the imminent triggering of Article 50.

I'm Gainer Bagley, PWC's Head of Corporate Purpose and I also chair our EU Steering Committee.

And I'm joined by Stella Amis,

PWC UK's Tax Leader for Policy, Reputation and Regulation.

So Stella, how did the Chancellor lay the groundwork for Brexit in the recent budget

and what are the key takeaways for business?

Thank you Gaynor.

I say that this budget was actually one where the ambition of the Chancellor was to try and keep

everything stable and to try and demonstrate that it was a good open environment for UK and for

UK business. There were no major changes, especially in the corporate tax kind of world, again,

a key indicator for business that stability was the key. There were, indicators of where things might change in the future.

Now, clearly the Chancellor tried to make a change when it came to the national insurance regime,

and whilst that's been unwound, it's still an area that is ripe for reform, and no doubt we'll see changes coming in the future.

I would say that the Chancellor, this time round, deliberately kept his cards close to his chest,

just to wait and see how the landscape changes post the triggering of Article 50.

So there was a hint that he might be taking a much more reformist, bold measure that he somehow then stepped back from.

Would there be another opportunity, say, for example, as part of of the industrial policy to kind of continue to innovate and transform the tax system?

I mean, absolutely. First of all, let's not forget that this is just the first budget

of two that we'll get this year. So there is another budget coming in the autumn and that's

possibly why the Chancellor kind of reigned back quite a lot on what he was going to do this time round.

And in all in respects, that's actually very sensible.

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