The SNP were locked in a war of words with Dundee West MP Jim McGovern on Tuesday over the role he played in convincing Alastair Darling to include provision for games tax relief in his last Budget.
In his last Budget, Mr Darling announced the computer games sector would be given similar aid to the British film industry, worth around £100 million.
Following Mr McGovern’s statement he had “played a key role in convincing” Mr Darling to help secure the funding, a leading SNP councillor queried the basis for the MP’s claim.
Willie Sawers said Mr McGovern claimed he had been “pestering” the UK Government on behalf of the industry but said “there is no proof of that.”
However, in December Mr McGovern was praised for his role in “pestering” Lord Mandelson and former Scottish secretary Jim Murphy to help secure £2.5 million funding from the UK Government for Abertay University’s computer games learning centre.
On a visit to the university Mr Murphy said barely a day had gone by of late when the Dundee MP had not urged him to put the city’s computer games industry at the head of the queue for government funding.
The row broke out after the SNP issued a statement following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
The statement read, “The FOI requests show that, prior to last month, Mr McGovern had written a single letter on the subject, to former minister for digital Britain, Stephen Timms, dated September 21, and received a reply on November 23.
“An earlier FOI published in The Courier on March 27 revealed that Mr McGovern had had only one communication with the Scotland Office on the subjectand that was a copy of a letter sent to Dundee West SNP MSP Joe FitzPatrick.
“Now copies of the more recent FOI requests, released by an SNP researcher, show that a single letter and reply constitute the sum of Mr McGovern’s claimed lobbying on behalf of the Dundee-based games industry.”
Mr Sawers added, “Mr McGovern has claimed several times in the press and on his recent election literature that he had been ‘pestering’ the UK Government on behalf of the industry, but there is no proof of that.”
He continued, “Admittedly, he did get Stephen Timms to visit Abertay University on 22 February, but that was a relatively brief photocall designed to help a Labour MP save his seat, rather than a real contribution to promoting Scotland’s games industry.
“Many people are involved in promoting the games industry in Dundee, but it is not appropriate that any one individual should seek to claim all the credit.”MP hits backMr McGovern reacted angrily to the SNP’s accusationsand said that the majority of his lobbying had taken place by meeting senior colleagues in person.
He said, “Most political decisions are made by putting your case to the decision-makers.
“I had in-depth discussions with my colleagues Stephen Timms, Jim Murphy and Alistair Darling, both on visits to the games industry in Dundee and in Westminster.
“The games industry ran a great campaign backed by excellent research.
“Alistair Darling promised the tax break for an important industry in this city under a Labour government.
“I’m now trying to hold the new government to give the games industry the same support.”