UK Tax Breaks Needed To Win Disney Back

Disney have said that they are unlikely to come back to the UK unless animation tax breaks are introduced.
The Walt Disney Company has written to the British Government ahead of the budget on March 21 and warned that "it is unlikely to return to the UK" unless tax breaks are introduced, so reports Broadcast.
This news follows UK animators pleading for tax -breaks -they claim they can no longer compete with tax breaks offered overseas.
Animation UK, which represents producers including Aardman Animations and Astley Baker Davies, have also previously written to George Osborne, Chancellor, warning him that Britain is losing its best animation talent and are urging him to "level the playing field".
The companies behind Wallace and Gromit and Peppa Pig have said that they are not looking for handouts but need to be able to compete. They claim that animators overseas, particularly Ireland and Canada, where tax breaks and funding supply up to 50% of budgets have created "a distorted market place".
Ironically as Disney say that they will not be back to the UK unless they are offered tax breaks they have just announced that they will be working on a new show in Ireland.
Last week Disney EMEA announced that it has started production, on a new action-packed animated comedy, ‘Randy Cunningham: Ninth Grade Ninja’, with BAFTA and Emmy winning Irish animation house Boulder Media.
This brings the amount of Disney projects underway in Ireland, where tax breaks are available, to three.
UK Animation predict that unless a similar tax break can be offered in the UK that allows them to compete on a level playing field with the rest of the world the UK animation industry will be wiped out altogether.
(LB)