One British political party we’re relatively familiar with here at GamePolitics is the current ruling party, Labour - the bastion of frequent video game critic Keith Vaz.

But we don’t hear as often about the Conservatives, who, in the last election, came a very close second. However, following the departure of PM Tony Blair and Labour’s new lead over the Tories in the opinion polls, there are rumours that the next election could be called as early as this October.

One person who isn’t happy with Labour, however, is Eidos CEO Jane Cavanagh, who has accused the party of not taking games seriously. Enter the Conservative Secretary for Culture, Jeremy Hunt (left), who wants to come to the industry’s rescue, according to an interview with MCV. Hunt has three aces up his sleeve:

- tax breaks for the UK game industry

-formulating  economic policy to “specifically benefit” both large and small games companies

- advocacy of a “more robust IP framework” to protect publishers from piracy

Said Hunt, citing a recent report showing that the UK has dropped below Canada in global videogame development:

One of the greatest threats facing the UK industry at present is certainly the shortage of suitably trained graduates. Also, many of our top talent are going abroad to places such as Canada where companies are offered [more appealing] incentives.

Thus it would seem that UK Conservates have identified that the games industry as an important part of the British economy, worthy of government support it. This action may well pressure Labour into arriving at a similar conclusion.

We won’t know for another month and a half, however, as Parliament are on Recess until October 8.

–Reporting from the UK, GP Euro-correspondent Mark Kelly