It was generally considered that a victory for M&S would open the floodgates for similar claims. A dozen UK companies operating in the international marketplace have nearly £740m of claims between them and there are over 100 already lodged with the High Court.

But the European Court has tried to dissuade companies from following the M&S example by ruling that before a company can automatically offset its losses it must first “exhaust” all possibilities of claiming relief locally in the country where the losses are incurred. Hence the judgement is far less sweeping than the Revenue had originally feared and it will undoubtedly vigorously defend cases that do come to the UK courts.

The victory for M&S may not actually lead to a big cheque from the Inland Revenue.