Games tax relief still 'under review'

Secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport Jeremy Hunt has said that tax relief for the UK games industry is "constantly under review".

The minister's comments come just weeks after the government's claim that there is no room in its budget to support the measure.

Richard Wilson, CEO of trade body TIGA, welcomed Hunt's announcement and vowed to continue to pressure parliament to introduce the legislation.

"Whilst we were delighted that the government made changes to the R&D tax credits which we campaigned for in last week's Budget, the introduction of TIGA's Games Tax Relief is the one measure which would really power the UK video games sector forward," he said.

"TIGA will continue to strengthen the case for games tax relief and clearly focus this tax relief," he added. "We will also continue to campaign for this measure - one that has cross party support in the House of Commons and which is supported by the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Labour Party."

Last year, TIGA convinced the Labour government to introduce a tax credit for the industry, but it was scrapped by the coalition in the emergency Budget.

> Feature: Still Taxing Times for UK gaming