A Liberal Democrat MP has spoken out against his fellow MPs’ frequent outbreaks of antipathy towards gaming, declaring that “few people in this country realise how important it is to the UK economy.”

Don Foster, MP for the constituency of Bath and Liberal Democrat spokesman on culture and media, warned The Guardian of the dangers of neglecting the UK games industry. "I hardly play any games, I'm not from that generation,” he said, “but because of my job, I had to research the industry. The vast majority of my parliamentary colleagues are always wanting to ban the latest game, but they don't know the details of the industry. Few people in this country realise how important it is to the UK economy."

Foster was speaking in light of how the UK games industry recently slipped to fourth position in world development, with Canada already making distance in third. UK publishers and developers are virtually unanimous that the industry is being castrated by a weak education policy that is not providing enough stepping-stones for graduates, as well as the government’s steep taxation system which lures development to nations that offer reasonable tax breaks.

The situation has led to the recent formation of the coalition of British development studios, known as ‘Games UP?’ which seeks to lobby the government on both the issues of tax breaks and education.

Don Foster pointed out to The Guardian that the ‘Games UP?’ alliance will be competing with other industries for tax breaks, such as fashion and tourism.