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TIGA CEO Richard Wilson has told Develop that he believes a hung parliament, now confirmed as the result of yesterday’s election, “may well work in the favour” of the UK games industry.
“I always remain optimistic,” he said.
“We’ve come such a long way. All the major parties have stated commitments to tax measures to help support the UK games industry. I feel there is a growing consensus about the issue. No minority government will want to upset more people than it has to.”
Wilson went on to say he believed that a Conservative-lead minority government was the most likely outcome once the dust has settled.
“They will have to put through an emergency Budget to deal with the defect. It won’t be pleasant. It will be very painful,” he said.
“But there will be positives. I believe they will continue to support games tax relief because it will help create jobs and future investment.”
Wilson went on to talk about the £90m that was set aside for games tax relief in Alistair Darling’s Budget red book.
“It would be extraordinary to scrape that out now. The pot of gold isn’t at the end of the rainbow, its right in sight,” he added.
When asked about the continued absence of the promised Tory ‘mini-manifesto’ that had been set to lay out the party’s plans for UK games industry tax relief, Wilson was philosophical.
“It would have been very interesting to have seen what was in that,” he said.
“But Ed Vaizey has made some very positive comments about the sector, and the Conservatives as a whole have made some very encouraging noises. We have an extremely good chance of seeing the measures enacted.”
Wilson was keen to impress his belief that the work isn’t over yet, however.
“The games industry has to be completely united on this issue. We will continue to lobby for the measures and I hope developers throughout the UK will continue to support us in our campaign,” he said.
“It is really important we don’t let this opportunity vanish.”
