Labour 'not serious' about games tax relief, claim Tories
Main parties clash over industry support
The Conservative Party has hit back at suggestions its position on supporting the games industry has changed, reaffirming its commitment to games tax breaks while questioning whether Labour's policy is "serious".
Senior Tory spokesmen this evening moved to calm fears of a U-turn in support, following the absence of any industry-related measures in its election manifesto, and called into doubt measures detailed in the Government's own document.
"Labour can't be that serious about a tax credit for the videogame sector," said Jeremy Hunt, shadow culture secretary, in a statement issued to GamesIndustry.biz this evening. "Although they announced that they liked the idea in the budget they didn't actually include it in the Finance Bill."
"We are committed to a tax break along the lines of the videogames tax credit," added Tory culture minister Ed Vaizey. "We have been calling for tax breaks for the video games industry for the last three years. We also intend to look carefully at venture trust funds and R&D tax credits to ensure the video games sector are able to benefit from them appropriately."
Following this morning's launch of the Tory manifesto, it quickly emerged that the only mention of the games sector in the 131-page document was in a passing reference to Glasgow's "important entrepreneurial sector, which includes innovative start-ups in fields such as mobile telephony and computer games."
This prompted Labour MP and games supporter Tom Watson to question Tory policy, commenting on Twitter: "Very worried that industry tax breaks not in manifesto. Other tax breaks are. Suspect their Treasury team have won battle."
In a section on 'Britain's creative industries', the Labour Party's manifesto, published yesterday, reports that British games talent has "flourished", and restates the surprise measure announced in the recent Budget – the timing of which the Tories are now calling into question – pledging: "Subject to state aid clearance, we will introduce a tax relief for the UK videogames industry."
Vaizey, Watson and Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster all publicly backed the call for tax breaks for the games sector last month during a debate hosted by ELSPA.