MP Ed Vaizey says shadow chancellor George Osborne is fully backing the industry
First he was positive that the Conservatives would introduce game tax breaks, now Ed Vaizey – shadow spokesperson for the game industry – is vehement.
Yet the Tory MP, speaking in response to Develop's story published earlier today, couldn’t promise that a game industry ‘mini-manifesto’ would be released before the general election. Such a paper was supposed to outline and detail fiscal support for the industry – and was promised would be released last wek.
But instead, Vaizey has asked the industry to trust him.
He said that George Osborne is behind game tax breaks. He said that the mini-manifesto had been delayed. He said that documents get moved around during election campaigns, which is why it hasn’t appeared. And, he said, Develop’s report was wrong.
In an animated exchange, Vaizey criticised Develop for publishing what he considers ‘lies’, after a report released earlier today saw Labour MP Tom Watson accuse the Conservatives of abandoning policy on game tax breaks.
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“Things move fast in an election, timings change, it is our policy to introduce game development tax breaks,” he said.
“I would like you to make that clear on your website.”
Vaizey again insisted that the Conservatives are “emphatically, 100 per cent in support for game tax breaks. No ifs, no buts.”
Labour MP Tom Watson – an industry sympathiser who previously claimed to have identified conflict on the issue from within the Conservative Party – said Vaizey “has lost the war” with shadow chancellor George Osborne.
The Conservatives' policy manifesto, which was released after Watson first claimed there was disharmony on the issue, only added to such suggestions. Develop has routinely contacted Tory campaign headquarters to discuss the situation, but the group had not returned a statement.
With the Conservatives' sudden silence on the issue, MP Watson told Develop that “the only conclusion I can draw is the party has rejected calls for games industry tax credit.”
He said: “They are avoiding breaking the bad news before polling day.”
Vaizey has now hit back on that accusation.
“We are fully behind game tax breaks. This is my unequivocal statement,” he said.
“It’s been approved by George Osborne.”
Develop put to Vaizey that he remains the only Tory MP that has even mentioned the game industry. Osborne had numerous opportunities to do so, we said, in the 131-page Tory Manifesto that he was central in drafting – but didn’t.
Develop put to Vaizey that tax breaks are widely regarded as the most important issue facing the game industry today, that many industry bodies are concerned that the Tories are undecided on the issue, that the party needs to back Viazey’s own claims – with clear and detailed policy – and not simply make promises before an election.
Develop has previously attempted to get comment from the shadow treasury team on the issue, but a spokesperson for the party insists that there’s no need. We’re told that the shadow treasury would only echo Vaizey’s statement.
Vaizey wants the game industry to trust his word. He remains unequivocally, undeniably and unstoppably in vocal support for game tax breaks.
The numbers, he says, will follow.
I am not sure that you cna trust any politician implicitly and just before a general election they are cagier than ever in regard to saying anything that might invit a counter argument.
ie "Tories put games before Hospitals and Schools".
However it is fair to point out that all this labour government has done over the last 13 years is make the playing field incredibly uneven for all small companies, especially those that wish to use long term contractors.
I believe that no matter what a conservative or liberal government might do it can be no worse than a government that has simply replaced their support of the unions with a combination of stifling bureaucracy and favouritism for multinational conglomerate companies at the expense of ALL small businesses.
Labour do not, and seemingly never will understand the priorities of a small business in an ever evolving world market.... so I say good riddance... even if they give us the tax breaks they will find some way to take it back with the other hand to give to the relatively low contributing tax payers and benefit claimers who are the bedrock of their support.
No matter what they say they would rather have the simplistic world of a handful of
huge (and usually non-british) companies that they can treat like government departments or unions on the paperwork front, rather than loads of irritiating little companies with their complicated problems like irregular pay and 2 years out of date health and safety precautions.
Even the Green Party would be better for small businesses like ours than Labour and unfortunately I can't see the Liberals getting the 50% of the vote they need to have any real influence, so maybe the Tories won't be so bad after all, they were pretty good for us last time around.
I am awaiting a reply tomorrow re tax breaks from Michael Fallon ( Vice chairman of the Treasury committee) at an MP's meeting tomorrow. His major concern was that Vaisey may not be an MP in the next Parliament as there was a strong lib Dem " surge" in his constituency. Fallon was pretty complimentary about the games industry and the potential it has so I would not panic too much if the numbers come after the election....
