Ticket Price Regulation: Live Events
08 Sep 2026 · Commons Chamber · 17 speeches · Official record
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My hon. Friend is touching on something really important, because the other part of the issue is the length of time that people have to sit in front of a screen in order to get to the front of the queue. That is fine for people who can afford to take a day off work or who are flexible in their work, meaning they can sit and do that, but it is not fine for those who work shifts or who work a job that takes them out of their home. There is a structural barrier to lower-paid people, mainly from wor... Full speech
I want to flashback to the summer of 2024: Labour back in power, and echoes of ’90s Britpop with an Oasis reunion. Alas, the latter is only remembered now for the ticket price rip-off that happened, with endless online queues and ever-inflating ticket prices during the transaction process. And then there was our pioneering manifesto commitment to stamp it out. But two years on, legislation has not yet hit the statute book. One top manager has told me: “I was really encouraged by the Government’s... Full speech
Speaker
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.- ( Shaun Davies .) Full speech
Speaker
Motion made, and Question proposed , That this House do now adjourn.- (Shaun Davies.) Full speech
One thing that has changed over time is the fact that there is now so much emphasis on live performance for musicians to be able to make an income. Perhaps my hon. Friend agrees that we need to look closely at streaming services, because the market has become distorted so that there is such a great emphasis on making money through touring. Full speech
Does my hon. Friend agree that community-owned venues are better protected against that kind of touting? If live music belonged to the people who watched it and used it, that would be the way to protect it most-through community and co-operative ownership. Full speech
I am sorry that the Minister missed Bon Jovi because of me. I wonder whether there is any indication of when this will happen, because with all the things that a draft Bill brings-all the hoops of more consultation-it will take until 2028 now. I just feel that every day people are being ripped off. We have just missed another summer festival season. Can the Minister give us a time? Full speech
My hon. Friend makes a brilliant point: the mutualisation of our venues is an important thing. We now have a Prime Minister who is a Labour and Co-op MP, so we hope to see that in practice. I will come to the example of the Co-op Live arena, but I think we will not have certainty until we have proper legislation to get rid of this issue once and for all. Full speech
I certainly agree with that, and one of the provisions in my excellent Bill is on transparency. People should know what they are getting into. Touting does not just apply to music. Football, theatre, and all sorts of other things are becoming subject to these processes. In July, Which? found that tickets for Lewis Capaldi’s current run at the O2 in London were on resale sites for £1,400, when they were originally priced between £32 and £111. A ticket for the All Points East festival with Raye wa... Full speech
My hon. Friend is so right. We have seen that happening with venues such as the Royal Opera House and the ballet, which are perceived as elitist, correctly or incorrectly, and we do not want to make an elitist system more elitist. The systems benefit people who have the luxury of spending time refreshing their screen all day. My hon. Friend’s remark reminded me that I found an article in The Times from January 2025, which says that touts are “loathed as parasitic…but…they provide a valuable serv... Full speech
We know that the UK music industry is a major player in our national economy, but £145 million a year is being lost to touts in a cost of living crisis. These touts are not the old-fashioned man in a flasher mac with tickets in his pockets, saying, “Oi, do you want a ticket?” Online bots are now touting in a sophisticated way. As Lord Brennan-the artist formerly known as Kevin-says so wisely in his fan-led review: “everyone’s life is enriched when they gather with others to enjoy live music.” It... Full speech
My hon. Friend is correct. The most accessed site is YouTube, and it gets not a penny from that. I am guilty of listening to music on YouTube as well, watching old Top of the Pops episodes from the ’80s, and Runaround-that was a good show-and Swap Shop and so on. Anyway, my hon. Friend is right; we need to remunerate. In fact, Scotland has just introduced a universal basic income for musicians, or they are talking about it at least, but anyway, we do not like that Scottish Government-boo! They a... Full speech
If there were transparency-if people were getting a sort of fan package and their dinner was involved as well, and there were other extras on top-we could perhaps understand why, but this mysterious tiered pricing, when there is no difference between the two, other than one is called premium and one is not, is quite baffling. My Bill would ensure real-time information on the ticketing site all the way through the process, setting out the amount of tickets at each price, so that fans do not get a... Full speech
I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate; I am always encouraged by her energy and enthusiasm for the subject matters that she brings forward. Is she aware of action taken against the company Starhub in 2024, following concerns that customers were initially shown artificially low headline prices, only for mandatory fees to be added later in the purchasing process? That meant that 50,000 UK customers were eligible for refunds. However, delaying the disclosure of unavoidable fees can e... Full speech
As I replied to my hon. Friend at the Select Committee meeting I attended last week, there were 39 Bills in the first Session of this new Government-39 very important Bills-that took us nearly two years to get through. In this Session, through the King’s Speech, we have of course introduced a number of Bills, and this one is a draft Bill. I can only reassure my hon. Friend and the House that we want to get this done as quickly as possible. That means we need to find the parliamentary time, once ... Full speech
My hon. Friend is making a typically entertaining and informative speech. I wonder whether she would agree that, from the customer’s point of view, there does not appear to be that much difference between tiered pricing and dynamic pricing-it is just that when the cheap seats have gone, they have to pay the premium. There is something unedifying, at best, about the whole concept of tiered pricing. Is that something that she thinks the Government should be looking at when they bring forward the B... Full speech
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Central and Acton (Dr Huq) for a very dramatic speech. She went through places where she has seen concerts; I do not know if she, along with my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Withington (Jeff Smith), is hankering for her youth, and wishing she could go back there, but it was a tremendous speech, and I think we would agree with every word she said. My hon. Friend mentioned Bon Jovi. I would have been at that concert this evening as they took the... Full speech