MP Watson: ELSPA/TIGA unity will bolster tax push

Labour MP Tom Watson has publicly backed the newly announced ‘tax break partnership’ between trade groups TIGA and ELSPA.

Speaking to Develop, Watson said the move “will give coherence and strength to the argument” for developers to receive tax breaks on games production in the UK.

He added that the demonstrated unity between TIGA and ELSPA is “a mark of the seriousness of the issue, that both organisations have come together.”

Said Watson: “I think the move is very important, it’s a significant partnership.”

The ‘game-sympathetic’ MP, whose Labour party fleetingly approved game tax breaks when in power last March, called for action on the issue as a matter of urgency.

The current coalition government has since abolished plans for game tax breaks.

“Without these tax breaks, the industry will be undermined,” he said.

Earlier today, ELSPA and TIGA announced a new ‘Steering Committee’, purpose-built to push the issue of game tax breaks forward.