How business-friendly would Theresa May’s government be?

When the main opposition party is proposing to jack up corporation tax from 19 per cent to 26 per cent the Conservatives don’t have to do too much to claim the mantle of the pro-business party, but with Theresa May suddenly attracting the nickname ‘Red Theresa’, just how business-friendly would a post 9 June May government be?

First, the losers. First Philip Green and other company-owners who leave pension funds under-funded: the Conservatives are promising punitive fines and a possible new criminal offence for those who ‘deliberately or recklessly put at risk the ability of a pension scheme to meet its obligations’. With FTSE 350 companies running a combined pension deficit of £137 billion at the end of last year, that could potentially mean an awful lot of bosses in the slammer. Alternatively, it could mean lower dividends as companies make a greater priority of serving their pensioners rather than shareholders.