Blackpool South MP Chris Webb welcomes Labour Government’s ban on ticket touts

The new rules will make it illegal to resell tickets for live events above original cost – delivering on a manifesto promise by Keir Starmer’s Labour government to stand up fpr consumers.

Resale tickets will be £37 cheaper on average, saving fans collectively £112 million per year as part of measures that will end business model of industrial-scale ticket touting.

Mr Webb, who has recently made calls for a state of the art arena on the Blackpool Central site, has welcomed the announcement on plans to make it illegal for tickets to concerts, theatre, comedy, sport and other live events to be resold for more than their original cost.

Ticket touting has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years. Touts buy large volumes of tickets online, often using automated bots, before relisting them on resale platforms at hugely inflated prices.

The practice has caused misery for millions of fans and damaged the live events industry.

The new laws will stamp out this practice, improving access for genuine fans when tickets originally go on sale and ending rip-off pricing on the resale market.

The new rules make clear that:

• Ticket resale above face value will be illegal – this will be defined in legislation as the original ticket price plus unavoidable fees, including service charges
• Service fees charged by resale platforms will be capped to prevent the price limit being undermined
• Resale platforms will have a legal duty to monitor and enforce compliance with the price cap
• Individuals will be banned from reselling more tickets than they were entitled to buy in the initial ticket sale.

Mr Webb said: “I was fortunate enough to secure Oasis tickets as a Christmas present for my dad last year, but I did fall foul of the dynamic pricing and ended up paying over the odds – and I was one of the lucky ones.

“I knew many people who missed out and some who spent extortionate amounts on re-sale tickets. It’s got beyond a joke – bands and venues aren't benefiting, and neither are fans. I’m proud that the government is stepping in to put this right."

He added:” Labour’s ban on ticket touts will mean more people can experience live entertainment and have important cultural experiences. Almost 2,500 Blackpool residents have joined my call to bring a world-class arena to Blackpool South, and this move will mean that my constituents get affordable access to it.”

Labour’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “For too long, ticket touts have ripped off fans, using bots to snap up batches of tickets and resell them at sky-high prices. They’ve become a shadow industry on resale sites, acting without consequence.

“This government is putting fans first. Our new laws will shut down the touts’ racket and make world-class music, comedy, theatre and sport affordable for everyone.”

The new rules will apply to any platform reselling tickets to UK fans, including secondary ticketing platforms and social media websites.

Businesses who break the regulations could be subject to financial penalties of up to 10 percent of global turnover from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), under new powers introduced the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024.

According to analysis by the CMA, typical mark-ups on secondary market tickets exceed 50%, whilst investigations by Trading Standards has uncovered evidence of tickets being resold for up to six times their original cost.

Government analysis suggests that these measures could save fans around £112 million annually, with 900,000 more tickets bought directly from primary sellers each year. Inclusive of all fees paid, the average ticket price paid by fans on the resale market could be reduced by £37.

The use of pricing strategies like dynamic pricing has been another major source of frustration for concert goers, and the government undertook a call for evidence to explore the issue earlier this year. The Government welcomes the commitment from the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) who are convening the sector to establish best practice, including on price transparency.

This will build on the recent announcement by the CMA, who in September secured commitments from Ticketmaster to improve pricing information, following the Oasis ticket sale.

This includes giving fans 24 hours’ notice of tiered pricing, providing clearer price information during online queues, and ending misleading ticket labels – addressing the key issues that aggrieved fans during the Oasis sale.