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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Corporate tax cuts and business-friendly policies in the UK - A review of electoral arguments during the 2015 legislative campaign

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The stance toward big business was a heated topic during Britain’s 2015 legislative campaign that led to the triumphal, albeit slightly unexpected, reelection of David Cameron, as Prime Minister. More profoundly, it raises the issue of the economic impact of corporate tax cuts and the nature of business-friendly policies in the UK. Firstly, we investigate the electoral arguments on both sides of the political spectrum. These discussions are framed within the overarching approach known as supply-side economics, which has been prevalent in English-speaking countries since the neoliberal revolution in the late 1970s. Secondly, we put forward the idea that widening inequalities, as suggested recently by the IMF, might be destabilizing, and that pushing the supply stance too far with disregard for issues such as tax avoidance could possibly hamper long-term economic growth prospects.