Shadow culture minister questions Labour’s proposed ticketing reform

Conservative shadow culture minister Saqib Bhatti has raised concerns that proposed reforms to crack down on ticket touts could push prospective buyers onto the black market.

Bhatti, MP for Meriden and Solihull East, was responding to the government’s new consultation into the resale of live ticket events, which was launched by Arts Minister Chris Bryant last Friday and forms part of the government’s promise to investigate ticket touting.

Among the measures proposed under the consultation is introducing an uplift cap on resale tickets between the region of 0% and 30%.

The shadow culture minister said he believes proposed ticket resale price caps could see “more money flowing into the pockets of ticket touts”. Earlier this week he told MPs his party “will oppose regulation when it is just introduced for the sake of being new regulation”.

“[Bryant] claims in his consultation that his reforms will better protect fans, improve access to live events and support the creative sectors,” Bhatti said.

“He claims that these proposals will give power back to fans and prevent them from being fleeced by ticket touts, however, we know that this isn’t true.”

“We know that Labour’s plans will harm artists, they will harm fans, and they will harm venues and make those live events even harder to attend.”

The proposed uplift cap on resale tickets has been supported by other groups. Sharon Hodgson, Labour MP and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ticket Abuse has called for the cap on resales to be set as low as possible, at face value plus 5% or 10%, “to take the incentive out of scalping”.

The cap has also been backed by Coldplay. The band posted on X: “The permitted cap on ticket resale prices should be no more than 10% above the original price – ideally 0% as it is in Ireland”.