Following last week's hung parliament, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have forged an alliance that they claim will lead to a "strong and stable" government.
However, Barry Hibbert, chief executive of Polestar Group, one of the UK's largest print employers, questioned whether a coalition government could work in the medium- to long-term.
He said: "The business equivalent of a coalition is a merger and they seldom work as you always end up with a dominant force. However, the [last] government did nothing for the print industry for 15 years so we have to give the new regime a chance."
Hibbert, who described himself as "sceptical until proven otherwise", added that the appointment of Vince Cable as business secretary was a "strange" one.
"He is not exactly in the inner circle so why give him one of the most important roles in Britain," he said.
On the plus side, Conservative Party policies, including its opposition to Labour's 1% hike in National Insurance contributions, have been welcomed by printers.
However, with the UK facing its worst ever peacetime deficit, concerns remain over where the inevitable tax increases will come to help reduce the mountain of debt.
Tony Chard, managing director of MPG Books Group, said: "It doesn't really matter what colour government we've got, because we've got this massive structural deficit that needs to be tackled and it won't go away by itself.
"The fact we've got a blue government means we don't have to face the NI increase – that will help – and there's also going to be a reduction in corporation tax, which can only be applauded.
"On the face of it, the Tory manifesto seems to be quite pro-business, but we know they need to start reducing the deficit and the question is: how is that going to be made up – will it hit business elsewhere or will it be through personal taxation?"
The new chancellor, George Osborne is set to announce an emergency budget within the next 50 days and independent think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that a rise in VAT could well be on the cards as the new government seeks to balance the books.
Hibbert said: "One concern is that they may see VAT on publications as a soft touch for raising more tax, so assuming that this remains exempt, then we'll have to see by their actions what effect there will be on the print business."
Meanwhile, the BPIF said it would be "an uphill task" to rebuild relationships with key figures in central government after seeing many of its former Labour contacts fail to retain their seats.
Corporate affairs director Andy Brown said: "I think one of the biggest challenges will be to get across to the new government and new MPs the importance of the print industry to the UK economy."
Brown added that "knocking National Insurance on its head" was helpful and said that the BPIF would be targeting new MPs to fill empty seats in its All Party Parliamentary Print Group, the next meeting of which takes place on 6 July.
What are your thoughts on the new government? Will the Tory-Lib Dem coalition be a boon for print? And what could the first new government in 13 years change to help the industry?
