Finance (No.2) Bill

I have taken advice in drafting the new clause, and my advice is that it is workable and applicable, although I have had to leave out certain aspects. My purpose is not to force this particular model on the Treasury, but to use the new clause as a debating point, so that the Treasury can respond to the principle and decide whether this is a good proposal that will help matters, bring investment back to the United Kingdom and be supportive. I would, potentially, be happy to withdraw the new clause at the end of the debate, and I am happy to listen to what the Minister says, but I want to get to the nub of the issue. The Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, the hon. Member for Wantage, the hon. Members for Bath and for Dundee East, who speaks for the Scottish National party, my hon. Friend the Member for Dundee West and Labour Front Benchers all think that some form of games tax relief to help maintain the industry in the United Kingdom would be a good thing. All I want today is for the Minister to say, ““Yes, I agree with that general principle. Over a period of time, I will look at how we make this proposal workable and how we bring it back in a future Budget or Finance Bill.”” Indeed, he could say today that he is happy with the proposals and that the Government will look at them again in the near future in whatever format they choose. It is important to get that on the table. Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA's chief executive, has set out his view that we will potentially lose jobs. He said:"““the UK is losing out on jobs and investment because of the absence of Games Tax Relief.""High-skilled jobs could be created in Manchester and Warrington. Instead they are being created in Montreal.””" He says that that is particularly because our"““key competitors, particularly Canada, have tax breaks for games production. The UK does not.””" Others who comment on these matters, such as Danny Bilson, THQ's vice-president for core game brands, has said:"““The talent in the UK is extraordinary...We have a studio up in Warrington that's an excellent studio…but I'm sorry, it's…about money at the end of the day.””" We need to ensure that we have the support for such things. That is the reality of the market. World-leading publishers recognise that we have an asset, which it has taken years to build up and which is worth hundreds of millions of pounds, but it will go abroad if we do not compete on the same level as our Canadian colleagues. In France, there is a 20% tax reduction for video games, and tax provisions in Canada have driven up staff numbers by 43%, but in the United Kingdom we have seen the head count start to decline over the past few years. I do not want to go into great detail or to take up the House's time. I simply want to tell the Minister that there is real scope for these proposals. There is scope to develop the UK film tax credit model and to use it for the UK video game tax model. We can ensure that we help to grow the sector, and we can meet the commitments that colleagues made during the general election campaign. I tabled the new clause so that we could hear whether the Minister is still of the view that there is no scope for such proposals or whether he could look at the issue in detail and bring back proposals in due course. I commend the new clause to the House.