The FanFair Alliance has again called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to ensure that new laws banning for-profit ticket touting are included in next week’s King’s Speech, which sets out the UK government’s legislative agenda for the next year.
The government promised to tackle for-profit ticket touting in its manifesto ahead of the 2024 General Election, and then announced it would introduce an out-right ban of unofficial ticket resale last November. But since then ministers have been very vague indeed about when they will present legislation setting out the ban to Parliament, prompting concerns they have basically put the whole issue on the back burner.
Addressing Starmer directly on social media earlier today, FanFair says, “you made a manifesto commitment to outlaw ticket touting”, so “put fans first in the King’s Speech”, and make good on that commitment with “no more delays”.
Adam Webb, Campaign Manager at the anti-touting FanFair Alliance, adds, “We were promised fans would be put first. We were promised an end to exploitative ticket touting”.
“Having made such strident commitments in November last year”, he adds, “it would be bewildering if the government now decided to postpone legislation and relegate the interests of UK consumers. We urge them to stick to their word and deliver these measures without delay”.
Last week the Financial Times reported that the ticket touting ban might get a mention in the King’s Speech, but with a commitment to publish draft legislation setting out how the touting ban might work, rather than committing to begin the law-making process in Parliament.
The Parliament website says that ‘draft bills’ are “issued for consultation before being formally introduced to Parliament”, which “allows proposed changes to be made before the bill’s formal introduction”. It adds that “the practice of publishing draft bills has become more frequent in recent years”.
While in many scenarios there is a logic to going that route, the government has already undertaken a consultation on for-profit ticket touting, which led to last November’s announcement of an outright ban.
And draft bills make most sense with particularly controversial issues. Although the proposed ticket touting ban is obviously opposed by professional ticket touts and the resale platforms they use, like Viagogo and StubHub, the government’s plan isn’t particularly controversial - indeed, it’s actually incredibly popular among fans of music, comedy, theatre and sport.
If the government goes the draft bill route on this issue, the touting ban is unlikely to become law until the 2027/2028 Parliament session at the earliest, and further consultation could actually push things back even further. Given recent research from O2 and the YouGov estimated that for-profit touting is costing UK music fans alone £145 million a year, that delay would be costly for ticket-buyers.
Jon Collins, CEO of live sector trade group LIVE, says, “We welcomed the Prime Minister’s promise to tackle touts last year but a draft bill is not enough. The plan to include legislation as a draft risks delaying action by three years, at a cost of nearly £500 million to consumers”.
He adds, “Fans have waited long enough for an end to the ticket touting scandal, and there is no need for further consultation. It’s time for government to deliver on its promise”.