Following a hard fought campaign, Brexit emerged as the winner of the European Union referendum campaign. The decision means that Britain has a voter mandate to exercise her right to leave the European Union. The exact timetable for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union has not been laid out. However, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has confirmed that the formal negotiations for withdrawal from the European Union, known as triggering Article 50, will be a job for the next Prime Minister following the Conservative leadership election in September.

The Chancellor, George Osborne released a statement on Monday 27 June. The Chancellor was keen to reassure the markets that Britain is well placed to deal with the expected market volatility in the coming days and weeks and that the Treasury, the Bank of England, and the Financial Conduct Authority have spent the last few months putting in place robust contingency plans for the immediate financial aftermath in the event of this result.

The Chancellor was also keen to stress that only the UK can trigger the Article 50 negotiations and that taking time to properly approach the negotiations is beneficial. The Chancellor was clear in his statement that 'in the meantime, and during the negotiations that will follow, there will be no change to people’s rights to travel and work, and to the way our goods and services are traded, or to the way our economy and financial system is regulated.'

From a purely tax and business point of view, we will no doubt see an increasing number of changes to our tax and legal system as we part company from both past and future rulings of the EU. However, these changes are not going to happen over the short-term and we will keep you fully appraised as any changes come into effect. The Chancellor has also ruled out an emergency budget taking place before a new Prime Minister is in place so it will be a case of 'watch this space'.