Ed Vaizey appointed as vice chair of British Esports Association

The British Esports Association has appointed Ed Vaizey MP as Vice Chair.

The government backed not-for-profit was set up to support grassroots esports in the UK. We reported this week that the organisation had joined up with UK games trade body UKIE, and they’ve been doing work with a number of different initiatives designed to grow the awareness of esports in the UK.

Ed Vaizey is the conservative member of parliament for Didcot and Wantage, and is well known for his work as the Culture Minister between 2010 and 2016, where he was an important part of securing tax breaks for game development studios. He’ll now be key to pushing forward the British Esports Association’s initiatives moving forwards.

“I joined the British Esports Association as Vice Chair because I passionately believe that esports has a great future – in the UK and all across the world,” Ed Vaizey said in a press release. “It’s one of the fastest-growing industries we’ve seen. And as a British MP I want British esports to be at the forefront.

“We’ve got a real opportunity here, even though the industry is growing and hundreds of thousands if not millions of people participate, it’s still a young industry and I think we can really put the UK on the map.

“The British Esports Association is there to promote, inspire and improve young players and promote esports, it’s fantastic.”

Andy Payne, chair of the British Esports Association, added: “We are delighted that Ed has joined us. We have a dedicated and experienced Advisory Board and so with Ed’s appointment this reinforces our aims to make Britain a great esports nation.”