Labour to review creative industry taxation
Opposition appoint Patrick McKenna to help devise strategy to boost creative sectors
THE LABOUR PARTY is to appoint the former accountant in charge of the Ingenious banking group to help devise its tax policy for the creative industries.
Patrick McKenna, who was composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s former accountant, will devise a new scheme of financial incentives to stimulate growth in media, music and fashion, the Guardian reports.
Shadow culture secretary Ivan Lewis will confirm the appointment on Wednesday. Lewis said the previous Labour government had been “late converts” to the idea of industrial policy it was now committed to “introducing an industrial strategy” for the sector.
The Labour government introduced tax breaks that stimulated film production in the UK, which has seen film production hit record levels. Last year, £1.15bn was spent on 119 films made in the UK.
But Lewis criticised the coalition government for dropping plans to introduce similar tax breaks in the computer games industry. “The fact remains that Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberals all went into the election planning to introduce a games break and it hasn’t been introduced,” he said.