Hunt: UK industry needs financial help

Minister for culture, media and sport Jeremy Hunt has told press that he believes that the UK games industry needs to be offered government-backed financial stimulus along the lines of Canada's.

Speaking as part of an interview with the Guardian, Hunt said that whilst he was firm on the issue of refusing tax breaks, he did agree that financial aid would be a good idea.

"We need to diversify our economy, replicate some of the success of the City," Hunt claimed, with "the right regulatory framework."

Asked about the tax breaks which have so long been a central feature in the industry/government dialogue, Hunt seemed primed to disappoint. "I don't know if that was the right way to go," the minister told the Guardian, before offering some hope by adding that "we need to offer the video game industry a package as financially competitive as Canada."

What that package would consist of if it were not to include tax-breaks is uncertain, although Canada does employ many other methods.