This week's opinion

The announcement that state aid approval has expired for enterprise management incentive (EMI) scheme share options granted after 6 April (not 5 April as might have been expected) surprised many advisers. Doubtless along with many other readers I was aware that there was a link between EMI and state aid but it had never occurred to me that the scheme could be left in limbo. It seems extraordinary that HMRC left it until 4 April to make the announcement but perhaps everybody in government expected that approval would be given by then. Some EMI options may be granted after 6 April simply because people may not have spotted the change in time. I foresee some complicated debates among constitutional lawyers about the status of those options if state aid is not renewed retrospectively.

I wondered where the cut-off date of 6 April 2018 came from because it seems...