UK Conservatives Accuse Govt Of 'Failing Games Industry'
Taking a break from trying to get games banned, conservative politicians in the UK have unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse upon the government for failing the videogame industry. Specifically, the Tories are concerned about the long-term health of the industry in light of the UK government's deferral to the World Trade Organization whenever the topic of supporting the games industry arises. Specifically, the UK has been lobbying the WTO against subsidies and tax breaks that Canada provides its own local games industry:
"The Government's strategy for videogames has been shown to be nothing more than a sham," said Ed Vaizey MP, shadow videogames spokesman. "For months, whenever we have pressed the Government for action, they have used the excuse that the issue had been referred to the WTO. Now they no longer have this excuse."As the games industry itself says, the Government now 'stands naked, bereft of a credible fiscal policy with which to support the sector,'" he added.
It's absurd to try to stop policies implemented in other countries with the purpose of drawing business. If the UK government sees a disadvantage, it is free to adopt similar policies of its own - not cry foul to the WTO, which appears to be useless in any event.
The UK's bid to nurture a world-class, job-creating future of creative industries could be perched on the brink, with tax breaks for games production at the heart of the dispute.
Tories blast UK govt for "failing games industry" [GamesIndustry]
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany on 11 February 2009
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: game subsidies, tories, uk, wto
There are lots of compelling arguments on both sides of the more general free trade debate. Regardless of whether or not you believe in the concept of free trade (my personal views are kind of in the middle on that one), if you have entered into a free trade agreement, It's not "absurd" to try and pursue the possibility that a particular situation is in violation of that agreement before trying to handle the situation a different way. The entire point of treaties and trade agreements is to "stop [or change] policies implemented in other countries" by agreeing to stop or change some policies of your own.
Just a tiny, minor, trivial point, but saying (small c) 'conservative' is a wee bit misleading - as the (big C) 'Conservatives' aren't particularly conservative (at least, by American standards :P)
Roo, it usually happens when you let Americans write about UK political parties, they don't follow the UK, but the rest of the world must know US politics, and it's assumed to be exactly the same. People assume the Conservative party = Republican party when it isn't the case.
As a Liberal Democrat, I would like to see Tiny Dancer post his evidence of the Conservative party [Note: Singular MP's do not represent the parties] trying to ban games. I'm not saying he's wrong, just I would like him to support his claim.
The current Labour government has failed in keeping intelligent creative industries afloat by taxing them to the gills [We are about 30% clear the most taxed nation on the planet, for the record, especially indirectly, it's gone down but we we're paying over $10 a gallon, £1.49 a litre for petrol in September last year] and stifling creative development at every stage. Hell it's failed the UK populace completely.
You know our current unelected leader sold our enormous gold reserves, which would have helped lessen the impact from this depression by allowing us to stop borrowing more money, at the lowest price gold has been for over 100 years. That's how astute this cartel is, and these people are in charge of our future, especially people like me looking for jobs in the creative and electronic sector.