The Labour Government is understood to be drawing up plans to prohibit the resale of live event tickets beyond their original price in a win for consumers.
This measure will reportedly targets professional touts and secondary ticketing platforms that routinely charge multiple times a ticket's face value.
Ministers could reveal the plans as early as Wednesday. The initiative addresses widespread concerns about automated purchasing systems used by touts to acquire large quantities of tickets immediately upon release.
These tickets subsequently appear on resale websites, such as Viagogo, often at significantly inflated prices. The Government has not confirmed the reports, though the move would fulfil Labour's manifesto commitment to strengthen consumer protections in the ticketing market.
Ticket prices will come down under plans being drawn up by Labour
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The Labour manifesto included commitments to shield consumers from exploitation and prevent them being excluded from events due to inflated prices.
Professional touts regularly employ automated software to secure tickets en masse the instant sales open, before reselling them at substantial premiums through secondary platforms.
A Government consultation explored various options for reform, including restricting resale prices to no more than 30 per cent above original cost.
However, according to reports in the Guardian and Financial Times, ministers have opted for a stricter approach, limiting resales to face value only, though additional fees may still apply.
O2 Brixton Academy | GB NewsThe campaign for reform has attracted support from prominent musicians across multiple genres. Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Radiohead were amongst those who recently pressed the Government to implement pricing restrictions.
They were joined by The Cure's Robert Smith, New Order, Mark Knopfler, Iron Maiden, PJ Harvey and Mercury Prize recipient Sam Fender.
These artists collectively endorsed a statement advocating for price caps to "restore faith in the ticketing system" and "help democratise public access to the arts".
Notably, the coalition extends beyond performers, encompassing consumer watchdog Which?, FanFair Alliance, O2, the Football Supporters' Association and bodies representing music and theatre sectors, venues, managers and ticket vendors.
Rocio Concha, the director of policy and advocacy at Which?, welcomed the development and broke down how consumers will likely benefit.
She explained: "This is great news for music and sports fans. A price cap set at the ticket's original face value plus fees will rein in professional touts and put tickets back in the hands of real fans.
"For far too long, music and sports fans who missed out on tickets in the initial sales have been ripped off by touts on secondary ticketing sites and forced to pay over the odds to see their favourite artist perform or watch their team play."
Ms Concha urged the Labour Government to demonstrate the measure's importance by incorporating it into the King's Speech.
Sam Fender performed in London last night | GETTYLive Nation Entertainment, which owns Ticketmaster, expressed strong support for the proposed ban.
The company stated: "Live Nation fully supports the UK Government's plan to ban ticket resale above face value.
Ticketmaster already limits all resale in the UK to face value prices and this is another major step forward for fans, cracking down on exploitative touting to help keep live events accessible.
"We encourage others around the world to adopt similar fan-first policies."
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