[IANAUKTL]

That would appear to run directly up against the Ramsay Principle.[1] Specifically, if a company does a series of pre-ordained business transactions with no commercial purpose, specifically with the goal of reducing their tax burden, Inland Revenue can look at the whole transaction and assess payment based on what would have happened otherwise.

A similar case happened in the US with Gregory v. Helvering[2], with the out-of-context quote from Judge Learned Hand in the predecessor case (Helvering v. Gregory[3]) saying roughly the same thing as Lord Clyde.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsay_principle [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_v._Helvering [3] http://www.leagle.com/decision/193487869F2d809_1591/HELVERIN...